Lion King: Naruto Style
by worlds-darkness
Summary: Naruto is the son of Minato who is the current Hokage of Konoha. When Orochimaru starts plotting against his relatives in order to take over Minato's position as Hokage, what will happen?
1. The Circle Of Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Nauto or it's characters. I do not own the Lion King or it's story line.

I love to hear feedback so if you have the time, please comment.

If you want you can personal message me with requests for animes that you would like crossovered with something else and I'll see what I can do.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy my story :)

**THE CIRCLE OF LIFE**

It was a big event that happened every time a new heir to the title of Hokage was born. Everyone in the great village of Konoha gathered together at the foot of the Hokage's tower anxiously awaiting the news of the sex of the child and whether it was in good health or not.

"What should we name him, Minato?" Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of the Hokage, asked as she stared lovingly down at the blond haired bundle in her arms.

The father who stood over his wife and new born son ran his hand through his blond spikes and adjusted his Konoha leaf shinobi headband, he did this every time he was thinking seriously hard.

"Hm... what about Naruto?" He asked and tickled the baby's stomach with his finger causing the young child to giggle and attempt to grab his father's finger.

"Steamed fish? You want to name our son after a food?" Kushina stated with a raised eyebrow and Minato smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Well let's see what he things, eh? Hey --" He leaned down to his son in his wife's arms, the young boy glanced up at him with bright blue eyes that resembled his mother's. "-- what do you say, do you like the name 'Naruto'?"

The child giggled and smiled, attempting to clap his hands and Minato looked at his wife triumphantly. The red haired woman sighed in defeat.

"I guess your name is Naruto then." She said just as there was a knock on the door. Kushina sat up in the bed and Minato called for them to come in.

"Lord Hokage." Came the voices of two close family friends. One had silver hair and a blue mask over his face and his headband covered one eye, the other had a large scar across his nose and wore his headband on his forehead like his Hokage.

"Iruka, Kakashi, is it time?" Minato asked and the silver haired anbu nodded his head.

"His name is Naruto." Kushina said softly as she handed her newborn to Kakashi who raised an eyebrow at the rather odd name. "Blame the father."

"Kushinaaa..." Minato whined causing the red head to simply roll her eyes but smiled at her husband who grin wildly back.

Kakashi and Iruka, slowly followed my Minato who was helping his wife from the bed, walked out onto the balcony where the entire village was waiting for them.

"I present to you, Naruto Uzumaki! Your future Hokage!" Kakashi's voice boomed across the village and everyone heard, the masked anbu presented the child to the citizens who all cheered and clapped before bowing respectfully.

"I thank you all for coming to witness the birth of my son and I promise you I shall do everything in my power to assure he becomes a Hokage worthy of ruling this village." Minato called and once again everyone cheered.

Minato then took the child from Kakashi and walked back into the tower with his wife, Kakashi and Iruka followed behind. The masked anbu walked over to his Hokage and the child and performed a few hand signs before placing his hands on the child's forehead, doing this would unleash the child's chakra points so he could truly become a marvelous shinobi and eventually Hokage.

Young Naruto tried to grasp Kakashi's fingers as they were placed on his forehead and giggle happily.

"He shall become a truly great shinobi, Lord Hokage." Iruka said with a bow, Minato smiled in reply and kissed his child on the forehead before handing him back to his mother.


	2. Orochimaru

**OROCHIMARU**

There was one person from Konoha who had not been among the crowd when the future Hokage had been born. This person was currently in his own underground chambers where he conducted secret experiments for jutsus.

"Life's not fair, is it?" The long, black haired man asked sadistically to one of the leaf village shinobi who had stupidly wandered into the yellow-eyed man's chambers unannounced and saw things he was not meant to see.

"P -- please Sir O -- Orochimaru... let me go." The man whispered as he pulled at the paper seals that kept him bound to the table.

Orochimaru turned to his captive and smiled evilly at him, a shining tool glittered in the little light that poured into the dark underground chambers. Had the room not been sealed with a silencing jutsu, Iruka who was making his way down to greet Orochimaru would have heard the horrible, blood curdling screams coming from within.

Iruka knocked loudly on the heavy steel door and waited for a reply. Orochimaru set down his now bloodied tool, covered the body with a sheet and walked out the room and opened the large steel door at the end.

"What do you want?" The black haired man hissed at Iruka who visibly shuddered but refused to look away.

"I'm uh... Minato is on his way. He wants to talk to you about the ceremony and why you were not there." Iruka couldn't force himself to look the snake-like man in the eyes any longer.

"Is that so? I am currently working on an experiment and do not have time for Minato's nonsense." Orochimaru smiled sadistically at the jounin ninja. "Have I ever told you that you would make a **very** interesting test subject?"

Iruka slowly backed away as Orochimaru advanced on him.

"N -- now s -- s -- sir Orochimaru please... be r -- reasonable --" Iruka stuttered and quickly turned to run away but the snake-like man wrapped his hand around the other's wrist and began dragging him back into the laboratory.

"Orochimaru." Came the calm, cool voice of Minato from behind them and the long haired man sighed and turned to the blond haired Hokage. "Let him go."

Said man rolled his eyes but still released Iruka's arm all the same who quickly rushed to stand behind the Hokage.

"Weeeell if it isn't my young nephew, descending from high to mingle with the commoners are we? Oh if only Jiraiya could see how noble you have become." Orochimaru said sarcastically and walked around Minato but was stopped when the Hokage grabbed him arm.

"I would appreciate it if you did not bring up my father. Kushina and I did not see you at the presentation of Naruto. You told me yesterday that you would be there. He is still your flesh and blood not to mention your future Hokage." Minato explained and Orochimaru hned in disgust.

"I shall practice my curtsy." He said sarcastically.

"Listen I don't expect you to like my son but I expect you to at least show him the respect you never showed me while I was growing up." Minato said sternly.

"Are you quite done? I have my research to get back to." Orochimaru hissed at his brother's son who rolled his eyes and waved a hand of dismissal. The elder man turned and walked back into his laboratory, slamming the steel door shut along the way.

"What am I going to do with him?" Minato sighed as they left the underground chambers.

"He'd make a good training dummy." Iruka stated before he could stop himself causing Minato to laugh.

"Iruka he is father's brother." The Hokage stated but the grin never left his face.

"It was just a suggestion." The jounin said with a smile and a shrug.


	3. Naruto Uzumaki

**NARUTO UZUMAKI**

Young, six-year-old Naruto Uzumaki quickly jumped from his bed at early dawn, dressed in a white t-shirt with an orange swirl on it, green shorts and blue sandals, quickly rushed out his large bedroom in the Hokage tower and sprinted to his parents bedroom where they were still sleeping.

"Dad!" The young child burst into the bedroom and jumped up and down on the bed. Minato groaned and rolled over while Kushina chuckled slightly and snuggled herself deeper into her husband.

"Aw comon dad you promised!" Naruto said and stomped his foot on the bed. Suddenly Minato sat up and tackled his son down and dragged him under the covers.

"No! AH! DAD!!" Naruto screamed and giggled at the same time while trying to get out of his father's tickling grasp. Kushina laughed and joined in, helping her son get 'revenge' on his father by holding him down so the little blond could tickle him instead.

"HAHAHA okay okay! I yield!" Minato exclaimed and Naruto stood over him triumphantly, striking a heroic pose.

"Wait a go, Naruto. You might even be a better Hokage than your dad." His mother said with a wide grin that was identical to her son's.

"Wow you really think so?" Naruto asked with wide, brilliant blue eyes. Minato sat back on his elbows and looked at his son.

"Of course you will be, Naruto, you're a cool, energetic kid." He stated and finally decided to get himself out of bed and changed so he could take his son for the long walk around the large village he controlled.

"Come on son, let's get goin'." Minato said and began walking out the the bedroom but quickly ran back to kiss his wife on the cheek.

"See ya Mom." Naruto said and hugged her tightly before taking his father's hand and walking out the bedroom, out of the Hokage's tower and down through the streets of Konoha.

"Good Morning, Lord Hokage." Naruto was fascinated by how many people would stop on the street and would talk to his father, have a few words or even a two minute conversation with him and Naruto was fascinated by how much respect everyone had for his father. He hoped that when he became Hokage that he really could be just as good as Minato.

"Look around, Naruto. What do you see?" Minato asked his son as they stood on the top of the Hokage mountain where Minato's head along with three other heads were engraved in the rock.

"Umm... I see people... and buildings... and trees." The small boy explained as he looked around the village from the high mountain.

"Yes, everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As Hokage, you need to understand that balance and respect everyone and everything. From the elders in the village to the trees and creatures that dwell within them." Minato explained and Naruto stared up at his father, he had a serious look on his face, like he really truly cared about absolutely everything that involved his village.

"What about that place?" Naruto asked when he noticed a large area of trees that had a large fence around it.

"That's the Forest of Death and I don't ever want you to go there until I say you are old enough and ready, do I make myself clear?" Minato looked down at his son with stern eyes and Naruto gave him a disappointed look.

"Why not?" He asked.

"It's very dangerous in that forest Naruto. I mean it I don't want you there." Minato stared down his son until he eventually looked away and nodded his head.

"Good, now --" The Hokage was cut off by Iruka suddenly arriving in front of him.

"Ah Iruka, how nice to see you." Minato stated and the jounin ninja nodded.

Naruto looked around already bored with their conversation and focused on a butterfly that had flitted past him. He walked after it and caught it between his fingers before letting it go again and watched it for a while before also growing bored with that.

He then put his hands together and started to attempt the clone jutsu he had been taught in school, and as usual he failed miserably at it creating a pale faced version of himself that couldn't even stand on it's own feet.

"What are you doin' son?" Minato whispered to him as Iruka talked about something that the Hokage had stopped listening to about ten seconds after he had started.

"Practicing..." Naruto replied and tried to create another clone but this time only resulted in creating a clone that looked more like his father than him and once again it couldn't stand on it's own two feet.

"Hehe let a pro show you how it's done." And with that Minato created a perfect clone of himself. It walked over to Iruka and leaned really close to him as if going to kiss him. Iruka looked up from the scroll he had be reading and heatedly jumped back in fright when he saw how close the Hokage was and resulted in falling backwards, at the feet of a chunin who had just arrived.

"Lord Hokage." The chunin said and knelt before Minato who nodded his acknowledgment and told the man to stand.

"Sir, Sound shinobi have been caught in the forests." He explained and immediately Minato went into action.

"Iruka."

"Yes sir?" The jounin replied.

"Take Naruto home." Was all he said and was about to teleport away when his son stopped him.

"Aw dad can't I come?" He asked.

"No son." The Hokage replied almost harshly before he teleported away with the chunin.

"He never let's me do anything cool." Naruto mumbled and kicked a stone, Iruka looked at him with stern eyes.

"There is nothing fun about the Sound shinobi, Naruto." He stated.

"Yeah, yeah." And with that Naruto was escourted home.

"Hey, hey Uncle Orochimaru!?" Orochimaru cringed at the sound of his nephew's son's voice.

"I told you not to call me that." He hissed, not even bothering to turn around from his experiment that was no longer identifiable as a body.

"What are ya doin'?" Naruto asked, ignoring what his 'Uncle' had said as he sat on a stood and looked at the bits of flesh and organs that were scattered over the bloodstained table.

"Collecting data." Orochimaru replied as he picked up a piece of bone from one of the bits of flesh and placed it in a small test tube and put it on a rack with a set of others.

"Well guess what." Naruto asked with a wide grin and the long haired shinobi grit his teeth.

"I **despise** guessing games." He replied and looked over at Naruto who was still grinning. Orochimaru rolled his eyes and went back to work.

"I'm going to be Hokage one day!" He explained happily and jumped on the seat, the hyperactive blond then tumbled and the stool hit the table with the test tubes on it and they fell to the floor, shattering.

"Whoops... sorry 'bout that." Naruto said while scratching the back of his head.

Orochimaru glared at the child but calmed himself, thinking that everything would happen in due time.

"So your father showed you the whole village did he?" The long haired man asked as he began cleaning up the glass the blond had broken.

"Yeah, it's a great place! I hope I can rule as well as dad does." Naruto looked as if he were in deep thought and Orochimaru smirked, he had just figured a plan in his head.

"He didn't show you the entrance to the Forest of Death did he?" He asked and Naruto looked at him.

"Well no... He said I couldn't go there." The blond looked down sadly.

"Of course you can't! Only the strongest of shinobi can go there!" Orochimaru said dramatically knowing full well it would strike a chord with the little blond boy.

"I'm brave! What's out --" He started the older man cut him off.

"No no no, if Minato didn't tell you I'm not going to either." He said and pretended to get back to work.

"Comon Uncle Orochimaru." Naruto begged and Orochimaru cringed at being called 'Uncle'.

"No. Besides the graveyard is out there -- oops!" He fake gasped and internally smirked when he saw Naruto's eyes light up with delight.

"A graveyard!? Woah!" He exclaimed.

"Listen Naruto you must promise me you'll never go there." Orochimaru said and Naruto looked to the side as if thinking about it.

"I promise!" He said happily while crossing his fingers behind his back.

"That's a good lad, now go on get lost I have work to do." He said with a smirk.

Orochimaru watched the little blond child leave with a large evil smirk on his face and then walked back to his work bench and uncovered the sheet to reveal a new leaf shinobi of the genin rank, his eyes wide and blinking rapidly due to the fact it was the only part of his anatomy he could move due to the paralyzing jutsu.

"Life's not fair, is it?" Orochimaru whispered to him.


	4. Best Friend

**BEST FRIEND**

"Hey Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he entered the Hyuuga residence where his best friend Hinata and her cousin Neji were sparing with each other.

"O -- oh Naruto, hello." She stuttered and stopped her sparing match. Neji glared at Naruto, he had never liked the blond boy, just because he was the Hokage's son didn't mean he had to like him.

"Hey Neji!" Naruto stated and Neji crossed his arms and 'hned' at him. The blond simply shrugged it off.

"If you didn't notice we were in the middle of a sparing match." Neji suddenly said and Naruto turned to say something but was cut off by Hiashi Hyuuga, Minato and Kushina coming out of the the house.

"Shouldn't you be sparing too, Naruto?" His mother asked and suddenly she had teleported in front of him and kicked him in the stomach sending him hurtling backwards and landed in the Hyuuga family's pond.

"MOM!!" Naruto yelled as he splitted and stood up.

"You're suppose to be on your guard my son." She said with a cheeky smirk. Naruto rolled his eyes and walked out of the pond.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Hinata asked softly, her face tinging red when he looked at her.

"Sure I'm okay! Anyway I came over to get you because I found this really cool place and I wanna show it to you." He exclaimed happily.

"So where is this really cool place?" Hiashi asked, he had not said anything since he exited the house and was sitting at the outdoor table with Naruto's father drinking tea.

"Oh uh... at the training grounds!" Naruto replied with a wide smile.

"What could possibly be there that isn't here?" Neji asked rather harshly causing Naruto to look at him with wide eyes.

"I'll show you when we get there. Right Hinata?" The blond boy looked to his best friend who blushed a deep red, she didn't know what he was talking about but enjoyed the attention he was giving her so shyly nodded her head yes.

"Y -- yes. Father, m -- may I go with Naruto?" Hinata asked shyly and stared hard at his daughter, a little skeptical of her going off with a boy, alone. The man glanced at Minato and his wife who were simply looking at him coolly, as if to see what he would say.

"You may, as long as you take Neji with you." He stated and took a sip from his tea.

"But Uncle --" Neji started but was cut off by Kushina.

"**And** Iruka." She said carefully. Naruto looked at her and was about to argue but the serious look on her's and his father's face prevented him from saying anything.

"I agree, you three are only children and can get carried away during training. Iruka being there will help your skills and prevent you from hurting yourselves." Minato stated and Naruto sighed in defeat.

Suddenly Iruka arrived in a puff of smoke and Naruto crossed his arms in annoyance and glared.

"When am I gonna be taught how to do that?" He asked in a huff causing his father and mother to laugh, Hiashi and Neji simply rolled their eyes at the so called 'Future Hokage's' childish manner.

"Well comon then let's get going!" Naruto exclaimed and took Hinata's hand and started running off, he missed the dark crimson in his best friend's face as he took her hand. Neji reluctantly followed his cousin and Iruka followed behind.

"Where did you really want to go, Naruto?" Neji asked in a hushed tone as they walked through the village, being wary of Iruka who was several feet ahead of them. Hinata also glanced at the blond wanting to know.

"The Forest of Death." He whispered back and both Hyuuga children gasped.

"Are you insane or just idiotic?!" Neji exclaimed and Naruto quickly 'shhed' him before all three glanced up at Iruka to see whether he had heard or not. Thankfully he hadn't and they went back to whispering.

"N -- Naruto, do you really t -- think this is a good idea?" Hinata whispered and the blond glanced at her.

"Aw come on Hinata, we're ninja! We can take on anything in there and plus you have Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage with you!" He said happily. That seemed to be enough to convince the Hyuuga heiress and she smiled a shy smile and nodded her head.

Neji, however, was not so easily swayed and silently cursed his cousin at her inability to resist Naruto's so called 'charm'.

"Naruto that forest is forbidden to all those under the level of chunin, if we are caught in there we could all get in very big trouble. My father once said that the deeper you go the more dangerous it gets and even the Anbu members have problems going in there!" He said heatedly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Aw come on Neji I only wanna check it out, we don't even have to go that far in. I just want to see what it's like is all. I mean it can't be that bad if it's part of the chunin exams right?" The blond replied with wide blue eyes and he stared at his best friend's cousin.

They found themselves locked in a heated staring contest that lasted only a few minutes before Neji looked away and sighed.

"The blame's on you if we get caught, and we get rid of Iruka **my** way." He muttered.

"Deal!" Naruto said happily and jumped in the air but then quickly remembered their one problem, all three looked up to see Iruka looking at them with a raised eyebrow.


	5. Can't Wait To Be Hokage

**CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOKAGE**

"What's with all the whispering between you three?" Iruka asked with narrow eyes.

Hinata looked away shyly, Neji simply stared ahead and Naruto began to stutter, he had not thought far enough ahead to think of an excuse if Iruka really asked, or how they were going to ditch him for that matter.

"We were simply descussing battle tactics, since you shall be the one we are to be sparing with we wished to keep the information a secret as to not give you an advantage over us." Neji stated stoically causing Hinata, Iruka and Naruto to look at him.

"Well... fair enough then. And I'm so proud of you Naruto to have picked a bride so early in your childhood, ready to become Hokage." Iruka said happily and the young Uzumaki boy looked at him confused. "Eh?"

"Betrothal Naruto." Iruka glanced down and everyone's eyes followed to Naruto's hand that was still clutching Hinata's in a light embrace. Naruto quickly let go and Hinata went an even deeper shade of red and turned her face tot he side.

"There is no way Naruto will be marrying Hinata." Neji said rather harshly.

"Well it's not really up to you, Neji." Iruka stated but Naruto quickly stood up for Neji, completely unaware of Hinata's true feelings for him.

"I can't marry her! She's my best friend!" He exclaimed rather loudly.

"Well you don't have to marry **her** specifically, but you will eventually have to. It's the Hokage's tradition going back generations." The jounin explained at Naruto stared, dumbfounded.

"Well when I'm Hokage, that's gonna be the first thing to go." He said and pointed to himself with a determined look on his face, Iruka stopped and looked at the blond with almost angry eyes.

"Not so long as I'm around." He stated. "I am the Hokage's personal advisor you know."

"Well in that case your fired." Naruto replied with a wide grin.

"Nice try but only the Hokage can do that."

"W -- well he i -- is the future Hokage." Hinata said quietly, sticking up for her friend and secret crush.

"Yeah! So you have to do what I tell you." The blond said, that grin never leaving his face.

"Not yet I don't and with an attitude like that you're going to shape up to be a pretty pathetic Hokage!" Iruka exclaimed, getting louder and more angrier only causing Naruto's smile to widen.

"Not the way I see it!" He said loudly before pushing Iruka hard with all his strength, Hinata stuck her foot out and he tripped, falling backwards towards a waiting Neji.

"Eight trigram three palms!" Neji touched specific areas on Iruka's legs that damaged the chakra control that would slow him down from teleporting and running to merely walking.

"Haha see ya later Iruka-sensei!" Naruto laughed before running off with Hinata and Neji in tow. They all ran as fast as they could towards the training grounds with Iruka yelling at them to wait up.

"Naruto? W -- why are we heading t -- towards the training grounds? I thought w -- we were going to the Forest of Death." Hinata stuttered behind him, Naruto was about to reply when Neji beat him to it.

"Don't be stupid, Hinata. We are simply heading towards the training grounds to throw Iruka off as to where we are really heading. When the paralysis wears off do you really think he's just going to wander off back into the village?! He's going to come looking for us, we're decieving him as to where we are heading so that by the time he finds us we will have been to the Forest of Death and back." Naruto looked back and Neji and then at the Hyuuga heiress who was look at her feet as she ran.

"Neji don't be so mean to Hinata." He said as they stopped running once they were on the track towards the Forest of Death. Neji simply hned and walked behind his cousin and the future Hokage.

"I -- I can't believe that place a -- actually worked." Hinata said with a smile.

"I know! I am a genius!" Naruto said with a huge grin but it was wiped from his face when he was hit with a rock.

"Hey genuis it was my idea." Neji said with a glare but that didn't falter Naruto.

"Why you --" Neji suddenly lunged at him and began 'play fighting' as one would call it.

"N -- Neji, Naruto p -- please, stop!" Hinata begged as she followed the fight and the boys simply ignored her and continued to fight.

"Eight trigrams, three palms!" Neji yelled.

"Kyaa!" Naruto yelled and quickly jumped out of the way just in time for Neji's hand to hit a tree and split it in half, slowly it began to fall towards the ground right where Hinata was standing.

"Hinata!" Both boys called just as the tree collided with the ground.

"What have I done?" Neji whispered, looking at his palms.

"No Hinata!" Naruto screamed and rushed towards the tree, desperately searching for his best friend.

"N -- Naruto?" Came a soft, stuttering reply and Naruto's eyes lit up in relief.

"Hinata!" He quickly ran around the tree and found his friend standing just next to the tree and was suddenly wrapped in Naruto's arms, Neji came around and hugged her also causing her to blush deeply.

"Don't ever do that again." Neji said said seriously and Hinata lowered her head in apology.

"Hey guys..." Naruto said staring upwards. Neji and Hinata looked at him and followed his line of vision to the bunch of dark trees, most of it surrounded by a large fence. "This is it... we made it."

Hinata gulped, the place looked dark and horrible. Strange animal calls and the occasional scream could be heard coming from within.

"Comon let's go." Naruto instructed and before anyone could stop him he had jumped into the trees and was now jumping along them. Neji and Hinata looked at each other before deciding to follow him, jumping through for a good hour. No one seemed to realise the further they went into the deep forest the darker it seemed to get.

"Okay Naruto we got here and we've had a look, now we should turn back." Neji stated and the blond turned to him about to object when he caught sight of Hinata who was nodding her head in agreement with her long haired cousin.

"Alright fine." He said and turned to head back when he suddenly stopped at the sound of bells.

"Do any of you guys hear that?" He asked as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the bells. "I think we should check it out."

"Wrong!" Came a sudden voice that cause Hinata to yelp and Naruto to gasp, Neji just stood there stoically although still surprised.

"Iruka-sensei!?" Naruto stared at the jounin in shock. "How did you find us?"

"I saw the tree fall over. Now what are you three doing here? You know that those below chunin are forbidden to come into this forest! Do you have any idea how far in you actually are?!" Iruka yelled when he was suddenly cut off by laughing.


	6. Ninja Of The Sound

**NINJA OF THE SOUND**

Naruto, Neji, Hinata and Iruka all looked around. The laughing seemed to be coming from all around them and no one could pinpoint it. The sound of laughter and bells filled the air and Iruka backed the kids into a tree and kept his hands on Neji and Naruto's shoulder with Hinata in the middle behind him so he knew exactly where they were while he looked around for the threat.

"Well, what do we have here?" Came a dark voice from the left.

"Show yourself!" Iruka called, pulling out a kunai.

"Hm hostile are we?" Came a different voice, a bit lighter but far more sinister.

"I said show yourself!" Iruka ordered.

"Maybe we should." It was a third voice, it was quiet and flat almost emotionless.

Then three shinobi revealed themselves from behind the trees. One was a man with a head-wrap and clothing that made him look quite large, the second was a man with gray hair and glasses and finally the third was a man with white hair, very pale almost sickly and was very skinny. All three men were wearing headbands similar to those of the hidden leaf village although instead of the leaf symbol, it was a musical note.

"Hm wander of the track did we?" The one with glasses asked with a smirk.

"It was very much an accident. We apologise for the intrusion." Iruka said and started to back the children away.

"What's the hurry?" The one with glasses asked and suddenly appeared behind Neji who was at the back of the group as they backed up.

"Yes I agree, we would love for you to stick around. Right Kimimaro?" The one with the head wrap asked the one with long white hair.

"I couldn't care less." Kimimaro replied and suddenly his arm tensed up and Naruto looked in disgust as a bone in his right arm began to visibly move around until it eventually started making it's way through his skin and the bone seemed to craft itself into an ivory sword that the man now held in his hand.

"Hm I see Kimimaro is all ready for battle, what do you say Dosu?" The one with glasses asked from behind Neji who had now turned and backed into Hinata who was clinging to Naruto's arm tightly, who in turn was close behind Iruka.

"Can't we just kill 'em and get it done with, Kabuto? Why must you play these games?" The one named Dosu asked.

"Because dear Dosu, who we have in our possession the young kin of that blasted Hokage that causes so many problems for our master, is that not correct?" Kabuto asked as he appeared in front of Iruka.

"No --"

"Yeah that's right, I'm Naruto Uzumaki future Hokage!" Naruto said loudly and Iruka put his hand over his face, sometimes the kid could be so dimwitted.

"Oh confident in our 'skills' are we?" Kabuto mocked and Naruto's face grew angry and he got ready to attack when Iruka held him back.

"I want the three of you to leave, now. I'll hold back these three. GO!" Iruka screamed, Naruto was going to say something when both Neji and Hinata began pulling him the other way.

"What are you doing? I'm not going to just leave him!" Naruto screamed.

"I can handle myself now go!" Was Iruka's reply before a battle broke out, three on one hardly seemed fair but he was more or less trying to stall the sound ninja rather that truely fight them. Keep them occupied long enough for the children to get away.

Naruto had no choice, with Iruka telling him to leave and Hinata and Neji dragging him along he went with it and began running, the sound of the battle raged on through their ears as they jumped from tree to tree as fast as they could possibly manage.

"Where are we going?" Hinata asked, the fear was laced into her voice.

"I can't see anything the forest is too thick!" Neji replied.

"Run, run little piggies, you'll never get away!" Came a laughing voice from behind them, Naruto glanced behind and saw Dosu coming at them. Hinata gasped and they all sped up, trying their best to outrun the sound ninja.

They were suddenly forced to a stop when the man named Kimimaro appeared in front of them his bone sword in his hand and a stotic expression on his face.

"What happened to Iruka-sensei?" Naruto growled out and glared at the sound ninja.

"I wouldn't worry too much about him." Came the voice of Kabuto from right in between the little group.

"RUN!" Neji suddenly screamed and immediately all three quickly elluded the sound ninja and met up running for the shelter of the trees.

"Run, run, run as fast as you can, hehe." The voice of Dosu laughed manically.

"Oh no!" Hinata called as they came to a stop at the foot of a large rock wall, they turned to the on coming sound ninja who had slowed down knowing their prey had no where to run.

"Clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled while making the hand signs. Naruto closed his eyes and prayed that the jutsu would work and he would save the day like he always thought he could and claimed to be able to do.

However when he opened his eyes he saw, to his horror, the clone of himself missing a leg, was pale and lying on the ground with it's face in the mud.

The laughter rang out and it looked like Dosu was barely keeping himself on his feet he was laughing so hard.

"That was it? Come on, do it again." Kabuto taunted and smiled happily.

Naruto glared and readied his hands and performed the jutsu a second time time.

Suddenly out of nowhere, two large clones with blond hair, both wearing a white coat with red flames on it came running in and and attacked the sound ninja.

Naruto stared and it suddenly dawned on him the mistake he had made. He had endangered his friends and for what? To see what was in some trees?

Naruto watched as his father's clones pummelled the sound ninja into the ground, none of them proving even remotely a challenge for Minato.

"If you **ever** come near my son again..." Minato let it linger as he held a struggling Kabuto by the neck, dangling him in the air. Dosu was unconscious on the ground and Kimimaro was struggling and failing to get to his feet.

"**He** came into **our** territory! We had every right to defend it!" Kabuto gasped out with an evil smirk on his face. Minato threw him to the ground and put his foot on the medical ninja's neck.

"Your end in near, Minato." Kimimaro stated before he knocked the Hokage off of Kabuto and teleported away with both sound ninja under his arms.

Iruka could be seen limping his way over to the group of people, his face was covered in blood and it looked as though he had been stabbed in the back with a large suriken.

Naruto reluctantly walked over to his father who was not facing him but watching the spot where the sound ninja had once been. He knew that he was in trouble and he had never really disobeyed his father before.

"Dad... I --" He started but was cut off by the angered look Minato gave him.

"You deliberately disobeyed me." He said sternly.

"Dad... I'm sorry." The young ninja whispered looking down at hims feet.

"Let's go home." There was no room for argument and they began jumping trees again, Minato now leading the way out and Iruka tailing behind while the three children were in the middle. Naruto followed his father's footsteps in silence until they eventually stopped when the reached the entrance to the forest.


	7. Hokage Of The Stars

**HOKAGE AND THE STARS**

"Iruka." Minato ordered and said jounin approached him.

"Yes, Lord Hokage?" Naruto could tell that Iruka felt guilty for letting them get anywhere near the Forest of Death and that only made the blond boy feel worse for he knew it was all his fault.

"Take Neji and Hinata home. I have to teach my son a lesson." Minato said and immediately Iruka walked over to the Hyuuga children.

"Come you two." He looked over at Naruto with a sad smile. "Good luck."

And with that they were gone, Naruto stared after them longingly, hoping they could stay just so there was someone to witness his murder.

"Naruto." The voice was strong and firm and said boy gulped before making his way over and stood next to Minato.

"Naruto, I'm very, very disappointed in you." Minato said, not bothering to look at his son but was looking up at the large cliff face that showed the faces of the previous Hokage's, his own father included.

"I know, but I --"

"You could have been killed!" Minato's decibel level rose slightly as he glared at his only son. "There is a **reason** I told you the Forest of Death is forbidden! There is a reason it is called the Forest of **Death**, and what's worse, you put Hinata and Neji in danger!"

"I -- I was just trying to prove that I could be a brave H -- Hokage like you." The young boy was now letting tears fall down his cheeks and his father gave him a sympathetic look, he could understand why Naruto felt the need to prove himself, after all he was going to be the future Hokage and many of the citizens had yet to see why the child deserved the position.

"Naruto being brave, doesn't mean you go looking for trouble." Minato said, finally turning to look at his son.

"But you're not scared of anything." Naruto stated and Minato raised an eyebrow at him.

"Clearly you've never seen your mother during PMS." He mumbled to himself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I was scared today, Naruto. Do you know how scared it made me feel when Iruka burst into my office in the horrific state he's in to tell me my son was trapped in the Forest of Death with three sound ninja?" Minato hid it well, but he was holding back tears at remembering the memory.

"I guess even the strongest of shinobi get scared, huh?" Naruto said sadly, he was looking at his feet but then he suddenly looked up with a huge grin.

"But you know what?"

"What?"

"I think those sound ninja were even scareder."

"That's because nobody messes with your dad. Come 'er you!" At this Minato quickly grabbed his son and held him tight while rubbing his knuckes into the child's head.

"AH NO LEMME GO!" Naruto screamed and squirmed out of his father's grip before giving a smirk of his own and lunged at the older blond in an attempt to give him the same treatement he had just received. He ended up knocking his father to the ground and they calmed down, lying exhausted (in Naruto's case) on the cool grass.

"We're pals right dad?" Naruto suddenly asked out of the blue and Minato turned on his side to look at him.

"Sure!" He exclaimed happily with a wide smile but Naruto didn't give anything more than a small smile.

"You'll never leave me, right?"

Minato stared, the smile from his face now gone, where had this come from? Naruto wasn't one to act so serious, to put it bluntly. It made Minato feel like something bad was going to, or already had, gone terribly wrong.

Then again, Minato was not one to lie to anyone, least of all his own son. "Naruto, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great Hokage's from generations past look down on us from those stars. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those stars will **always** be there to guide you. And so will I."


	8. Be Prepared

**BE PREPARED**

"Ugh, what the hell happened?" Kabuto asked as he put his hand on his aching head as he sat up, he looked to the side and saw Kimimaro sitting on a chair and hooked up to an IV machine and Dosu was sitting on the bench next to him with an angry scowl across his face. The medic ninja also took note of the hand that was covering Dosu's left side of his face and the blood that was seeping heavily through it.

"We got our asses handed to us, that's what happened!" The injured sound ninja growled out. "I hate those leaf shinobi! They act all high and mighty!"

"Especially Hokage Minato." Kimimaro added in quietly, it was not usually in his character to tribute to Dosu's constant, inappropriate banter but he had just lost a battle and despite what his face portrayed, he was too very angry about it.

"That's what happens when you underestimate your enemy." Kabuto stated as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out some bandages.

"They were friken' kids!" Dosu screamed loudly while throwing his hands up in the air, throwing blood all over the place.

"Yes, but one was future Hokage." Kabuto said pointedly and walked over to Dosu and performed a series of hand signs before placing his hands roughly on the side of Dosu's face that was injured and the large wound began to reduce itself to nothing more than a rather ugly, large scar.

"Stupid leaf shinobi..." Dosu mumbled.

"Oh surely all leaf shinobi aren't **that** bad." Came a snake-like hiss from the door to the secret base.

Everyone's head snapped to the side, immediately thinking that their hiding spot had been discovered by the leaf shinobi, without even thinking all three threw a set of kunai at the sudden intruder.

It was as if the kunai were going in slow motion and a slim, pale hand caught all three with ease. The sound ninja looked at the intruder who raised an eyebrow at them.

"I do not recall you being this... cautious."

"Oh Lord Orochimaru, it's just you." Kabuto said with a slight bow.

"Yeah, we were afraid it was somebody important." Dosu said carelessly earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Kabuto. The long haired, pale man glared at them.

"I gave you one simple order. Kill the child and his friends."

"Well it ain't exactly like they were alone! I mean comon, Minato comes outta nowhere and completely destroyed us. Look at what he did to my face!" Dosu screamed the last bit and pointed to his heavily scared face.

"I would say it's an improvement." Orochimaru hissed and Dosu glared, he knew better than to argue however.

"Lord Orochimaru I must apologise for our failure. We should have been more prepared and not fallen prey to our overconfidence." Kimimaro said and bowed. It seemed that of all his minions Orochimaru liked him the best and made no effort to hide it.

"I do not blame you, Kimimaro. I blame you Kabuto." The leaf sanin turned to the man with the glasses who only looked down, clenching his fists.

It was painfully obvious to anyone who cared to observe that Kabuto harbored deep feelings for his snake-summoning master, and it hurt the medical ninja deeply whenever Orochimaru praised the albino man, who apparently had he not gotten sick, would have been a true powerful force to recon with.

"I apologise sir."

"I truely don't see what the problem was, Kabuto. They were children and you couldn't even despose of them."

"We already told ya, it wasn't the brats is was Minato showin' his ugly face from nowhere!" Dosu exclaimed angrily.

"Calm yourself, Dosu." Kimimaro said softly. "My Lord, it is obvious that no matter where the young child goes, his father shall not be far behind to defend him."

Orochimaru sighed and began walking around the hideout, trying to think up a plan. Kimimaro was indeed correct, no matter how much trouble Naruto would get himself into, his nephew would always be there to protect the child. So what he needed to focus on was getting rid of Minato **and** Naruto at the same time and then it was as if someone had turned a light on in his head.

"I have the perfect plan to take care of Minato and Naruto in one horrific swoop."

"Care to explain?"

"It will take some time to set up, a year or two at the most but if it works it should also destroy the whole front line of Anbu shinobi as well as their precious Hokage and his son. Then I shall be the one to rule over these lands."

"So what is this thing that is going to take out all our enemies in one go?"

"... Then nine tailed fox."


	9. Attack Of The Nine Tailed Fox

I apologize for the bad quality of this one, I was a little distracted while I was writing it and that's why it may seem a little odd...

* * *

**ATTACK OF THE NINE TAILED FOX**

"Congratulations Naruto, you graduate." Iruka said and handed the blond child his leaf ninja headband that he proudly tied around his forehead.

"All right!!!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs and rushed over to Hinata who was still his best friend, and Neji to show them the headband.

"Congratulations, Naruto." The Hyuuga heiress said with a smile.

Naruto was so happy that he had managed to pass after failing the first time because he could not produce a proper clone. However after a certain incident with one of his old instructors who tried to kill him for being the Hokage's son, he had learned the shadow clone jutsu and graduated from the academy.

"Naruto..." Came the hissing voice of his 'Uncle' Orochimaru.

Said child and his friends turned to the tall, pale man who was standing at the entrance gate to the academy.

"Uncle Orochimaru! Look what I got." Naruto rushed over and proudly showed off his leaf headband.

"Yes your father told me you would be graduating today. I am very proud of you." The long haired sanin said with a smile then held out his hand. "To celebrate your father said he wanted to give you a marvelous surprise in the outskirts of the village."

"Really! What is it?" Naruto asked excitedly as he took Orochimaru's hand and let him lead him out of the academy, turning only once to wave goodbye to the Hyuuga children.

"Now if I told you it wouldn't **be** a surprise would it?" The elder man replied a secretly rolled his eyes when he turned his head to the side.

"Aw comon, Uncle Orochimaru." Naruto begged as they walked through the city and ended up at the city gates.

"No, no, no. This is just between you and your 'daddy'. You know... a sort of father, son... thing."

"If you tell me, I'll still act surprised."

"Hahaha, you are such a naughty kid aren't you. Well no you're just going to have to wait and find out."

They walked in silence for a good fifteen minutes, making their way further and further away from the village and Naruto was bouncing with anticipation.

"Come on, tell me what it is!" Naruto begged when they finally reached a large waterfall and river.

"Wow look at this place!" Naruto exclaimed as he leaned over the edge to stare at the huge waterfall and river below, he missed his Uncle who rolled his eyes and pat the boy on the back.

"You stay here and I'll go get your father." Orochimaru ordered before beginning to walk away.

"I'll go with you." Naruto exclaimed and attempted to follow his Uncle when he was pushed backwards to fall on his behind.

"No! You just stay here, you don't want to end up in another mess like you did with the sound ninja do you?" Orochimaru knew he was hitting below the belt bringing that up but since when did he even not hit below the belt?

"It was an accident..." The little blond mumbled miserably and Orochimaru smirked.

"Of course it was, boy. But you do not want to end up in that situation, so why don't you just stay here and practice on your kunai throwing. I'll be right back." And with that he teleported away leaving the young ninja all by himself, he sighed and sat on the ground glaring angrily at a piece of grass.

"Man, feel the power comin' off that thing!" Dosu exclaimed as they stared at huge rock cliff-face door that held the mighty power of the nine-tailed fox behind it.

"It is phenominal..." Kimimaro replied and stared almost wide-eyed at the heavily sealed entrance. "I'm suddenly having thoughts that it is not the best idea to unleash this great beast."

Kabuto snapped his head over to glare at the white haired man.

"How could you question Lord Orochimaru's plan like that!?" He yelled and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and smashed his fist against his face so fast Kimimaro had no time to act and was sent hurtling to the ground.

Of course that was the perfect opportune moment for Orochimaru to arrive and having not heard the conversation that conspired before-hand, only seeing his favourite sound ninja on the ground and an angry Kabuto leaning over him was enough to anger the sanin greatly.

"Kabuto, how dare you!"

"But Lord Orochi --"

The plea was cut off by a pale hand and wrapped itself around Kabuto's neck and shoved him hard against a tree.

"You should know better, Kabuto." Orochimaru hissed in his ear.

"I -- I uh... yes my Lord, I do know better." Kabuto replied with a sigh looking down at his feet once the pale sanin had released his grip.

"Now I shall unleash the beast that has been kept prisoner for well over one hundred years!"

Dosu stared at Orochimaru as he rambled on as if it were necessary to blurt out the damned thing's history before he unleashed it. Sure he wanted Minato dead almost as much as Orochimaru bit did the long haired sanin **have** to drag it out?

"Get in your positions." He eventually said and the sound ninja did as told, standing in a triangle shape with Orochimaru in the middle. The master of the group began to perform multiple handsigns and the others followed suit.

The sealing tags on the large entrance began to sizzle and burn away until they were gone completely. There was a rumbling in the cavern and immediately the wall began to burst. Orochimaru and his crew quickly teleported themselves out of the line of fire.

"Phase one, complete." The snake summoner hissed and glanced back at the now massive orange fox that stood where the large confindment once was.

Naruto growled angrily at the tree that for some reason would not let him throw a kunai properly at it and kept bouncing off the trunk instead of burying it's pointy tip in the bark like it should. He threw his last kunai, it missed the tree completely and disappeared into the trees, that was when he heard the loud angry roar of what seemed like a huge beast.

The blond looked up and saw a huge drooling beast staring down at him from the top of the trees, it angrily swiped a paw at him.

"This is my chance!" Naruto exclaimed and reached for his pouch to draw out some kunai when he felt nothing in the small bag, he gasped and looked to the side where he saw all of his kunai at the base of the tree he had been practicing on.

Suddenly the large fox swiped at him and nearly crushed him alive under the great paw and he would have been had it not been for the small cliff face that he had fallen off of and he headed towards the water.

"Hm listen to that." Iruka stated to his Hokage when he heard a distant roar comming from the large waterfall that was about fifteen to twenty minutes from the village.

"Odd..." Minato replied and walked out of the Hokage's tower to see if he could see what was going on. He saw a large dust cloud but over the trees could not really see anything else.

"Minato!" The Hokage looked down at the sound of his name being called from below, there he saw his Uncle. Minato quickly jumped the railing and landed in front of Orochimaru who appeared out of breath and panicing.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Quick, someone has unleashed the nine tailed fox by the great waterfall! Naruto's there!" Minato's eyes went wide with horror.

"Orochimaru, assemble the Anbu team and get them down there as so as possible!" Minato ordered before he had teleported away, missing the evil smirk that crossed the elder sanin's face.


	10. Death Of The Hokage

**DEATH OF THE HOKAGE**

Minato jumped from tree to tree as fast as he possibly could. He could hear the roars of the nine tailed fox getting louder and louder and the destruction around the trees and terrain indicated he was getting closer.

"Minato!" Called a female voice from behind him, he didn't even bother to look for he was too focused on his destination and his son.

"Minato, where is Naruto?" This time the voice came from right next to him, he turned his head slightly to see the worried face of his beautiful wife. Minato didn't reply, only continued to stare ahead with a hard look on his face and it was then that Kushina knew that her son might already possibly be dead.

When they finally reached their destination they say the nine tailed fox destroying the trees in front of it, at first that's all they thought it was doing until a large, blond-headed, orange clad lump was sent hurtling out of the destroyed trees and onto the ground only to be crushed by the gigantic paw.

"NARUTO!!" Kushina screamed at the top of her lung.

"Mom?" Came a voice from behind them, they both turned to see Naruto, bloodied, bruised and battered but alive.

"My boy!" The red headed woman exclaimed and rushed to hug her son.

Apparently in all the emotional fuss of seeing her son die and then reappear, Kushina had forgotten all about the giant fox that growled angrily before lowering it's head, coming in fast for the quick kill.

Minato quickly performed a few hand signs and then a huge wall of water used from the waterfall and river and surrounded itself around the fox and eventually creating a dome.

"Dad?!" Naruto gasped when he saw his father enter the large dome before it was closed off. The young blond child glanced back at his mother who was staring sorrowfully at the dome.

"How do we get through? We gotta help him!" Naruto was on the verge of tears, he feared for the safety of his beloved father.

Naruto and Kushina watched from what they could see through the dome, which was not much. Naruto felt like he was going to be sick, why was all this happening? One minute his uncle was going off to get his father so he could be given a surprise and the next he was being attacked by a hundred foot, nine-tailed fox!

"By order of Lord Hokage all jounin are to do their training exercises in the far off woods by the great waterfall today." Orochimaru said with a wide smirk, all the jounin besides Iruka saluted before making all disappearing.

"Wait a minute, Orochimaru what are you doing? If you send the jounin out there they'll be slaughtered, I thought Minato requested the Anbu squad..." Iruka slowly trailed off when he saw the evil grin widen the more he talked and eventually put two and two together.

"How could you!? He's your nephew!" He exclaimed when suddenly three ninja appeared from the shadows behind Orochimaru, all sporting the sound village headbands somewhere on their body.

"TRAI --" The jounin didn't get a chance to finish his sentence when Kabuto pulled on a chakra thread that stopped him in mid sentence.

"Attempt to say another word and I will not hesitate to pull your voice box out. You'll cease to be able to talk, breath, your mouth will wire itself shut and, assuming of course that you don't suffocate from lack of oxygen, you will drown in your own blood that will pour itself down your throat due to the massive hole that once held your vocal chords." Iruka stared with wide eyes at Kabuto.

"If you'll be so kind as to follow my subordanates." Orochimaru hissed again that evil smirk never leaving his face. Iruka reluctantly followed Kabuto and Dosu back into the Hokage's tower, feeling helpless and useless at the same time.

The jounin had arrived at the scene and once they saw what was going on, all attempted to help Minato out of the dome even though he was the one who had created it. This only caused problems for the blond haired man who was locked inside with the large beast who had been thrashing and roaring in an attempt to get out for quite some time.

"Stop none of you should even be here!" Kushina tried to reason with the jounin but the way they saw it, their Hokage was in trouble and in dire need of saving.

Eventually the jounin broke through the wall of water, it collapsed loudly back into the river where it came from leaving a very angry nine tailed fox in it's wake. The fox's eyes were blood red and it began to attack every person it saw.

Kushina moved her son to a safer distance, as far away as she could get before heading into the battle herself, Naruto stared with wide, frightened eyes at his parents fought. Was this his fault? Was he the reason they were here in the first place fighting this great beast?

"MOM!!" Naruto screamed when he watched his mother fly through the air faster than a well thrown kunai and hit a tree. Naruto rushed over to her, she was coughing violently and blood covered her lips and chin.

"Mom?" The young blond whispered, tears streaming down his face.

"G -- get ou -- t of here, N -- Naru -- to." She coughed violently, her face contorted in pain.

"No don't worry mom you're gonna be okay..." He whispered and closed his eyes. He tried his best to block out the agonising screams of the other jounin and did his best to focus souly on his mother.

"It's da -- ngerou -- s h -- here." Naruto just shook his head, he wasn't going to leave his mother and father here. He started crying harder as Kushina's eyes began to droop, they got lower and lower until they eventually began to fully close and open again, half lidded. Until eventually... they simply stayed shut.

One by one the jounin began to fall, no matter how much they tried there was no way they were going to win this battle against the fox and they all knew it, but they refused to give up... until there were no jounin left. Only Minato.

"I have no choice..." Naruto glanced up at his father to see what was going on, just in time to see him jump on the fox's head, cut his hand with a kunai, perform a few hand signs and slam it down directly on it's head.

For a moment nothing happened. The fox just froze in place until it began to thrash wildly, roaring in pain. Naruto didn't understand what was going on, until he saw it, the fox was shrinking and turning into a red concentrated chakra that was being sucked up by Minato's hand.

"Dad!" Naruto yelled.

Minato was obviously in alot of pain trying to keep this jutsu in place, the young boy saw the older version of himself grasp his stomach, he was trying to force the chakra into himself however it was clear it wasn't working.

Blood began to pour out his mouth, nose and ears, his eyes, misted over, found their way to his young son who was watching the whole spectacle in horror. The Hokage stumbled his way over, only making it halfway before collapsing. Naruto rushed over to help but when he knelt next to him, Minato suddenly shoved his hand straight into his son's stomach.

Naruto's eyes widened as the wind was knocked out of him and he could have sworn he was knocked out for a few seconds as well, but his eyes widened even more when Minato slumped and his eyes closed. Naruto crawled over to him on and weakly shook him.

"Dad... come on dad." Silent tears began to fall again. "Dad, we've gotta get mom home."

No matter how much he shook him, the Hokage would simply not wake up.

"P -- Please dad... I'm sorry, don't lea -- ve me." He hiccuped and even pulled at the older man's hair but only resulted in pulling the shinobi headband with black cloth from his head and it clattered to the ground.

His shaking hand picked it up and held it close before he rested his blond head on the chest of his father's dead body, tears soaking the green vest his father always wore under his white Hokage's coat.

"Daddy..."

* * *

Hey I'm sorry if this wasn't exactly what you were expecting. I'm so sorry if it disappoints some of you because I know that Minato is a far better fighter than I portrayed him to be. I'm just not that good at writing fight scenes, especially scenes that involve characters I hardly know anything about.

Well anyway I hope you enjoyed it and the next chapter shall be out asap :)

Oh and thankyou very much to those who comment, especially Echo Uchiha. Thanks alot


	11. Run Away And Never Return

**RUN AWAY AND NEVER RETURN**

"Naruto... what have you done?" The voice was like a smooth knife cutting through the tense, now night, air.

He didn't know how long he had lay there with the body of his father, having wrapped Minato's arm around him quite some time ago so he could snuggle into his chest and preserve what little warmth the large body had left.

The blond boy glanced up to see his 'Uncle' standing there staring down at him with a look of almost disgust.

"I -- It was an accident."

"Accident?"

"T -- They came and t -- tried to save me, it was an accident... I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Orochimaru leaned forward and pulled the boy gently from his dead father's arms and wrapped his own snake-like arms around him. Naruto buried his head into the green vest and began crying again.

"Of course you didn't, no one... ever **means** for these things to happen." The taller man gently pushed the boy away a little and bent to his height so he could wipe away the boy's tears when he noticed something that had not been there before this day. Three marks on each cheek looking a lot like whiskers.

"But the Hokage **is** dead. If it weren't for you he'd still be alive." Orochimaru stood to his full height, because of the darkness Naruto didn't notice the evil glare the long haired sanin had shot his father's body, nor the three ninja that were behind him in the trees.

"What would your friends think? The village?" Orochimaru asked as if pondering a negative outcome.

"What am I going to do?"

"Run."

"Run?"

"Yes, run away and **never** return."

Naruto didn't need to be told a third time, he quickly turned and began sprinting his way into the night, had he looked back even once he would have seen the sound ninja make their appearance from behind their master.

"Kill him."

Naruto ran as fast as his legs would carry him when he head a loud laugh that was all to familiar to him. Why now, why now did they have to come and make his life harder than it already was?

"Hehe come back 'ere kid!" Dosu screamed after him.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled and suddenly there were about thirty different Naruto's all making their way to different places.

"What the --" Kabuto started when he was tripped by a Naruto who smirked at him before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Find the original." Kimimaro ordered as he sliced his way through the horde of orange jackets and blond hair.

"Why don't **you** find the original you albino freak! We're all kinda busy 'ere!" Dosu screamed as he was swamped by clones of Naruto, Kabuto looked around desperately looking for the original, if the child got away Orochimaru would have their heads.

"Stop arguing and find him!" Kabuto roared as he stabbed another clone in the head.

Naruto however was letting his clones do the work while he made a mad dash through the midnight air to the borderlands of the land of fire. He couldn't help but run his parent's last moments over and over in his head. There was so much he could have done to to prevent it and yet he had done nothing, stood frozen to the spot like a frightened kitten.

The boy was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed how many clones he had actually produced and how fast he was actually running. He was a lot stronger yet he didn't even realise it.

"This is stupid how the hell could we lose him!?" Dosu roared.

The sound ninja were standing in the small clearing looking around everywhere in the darkness for hints of orange or blond, but alas the kid was gone.

"Lord Orochimaru will not be happy about this." Kimimaro stated the obvious causing Kabuto to glare at him, of course he wouldn't be happy about it!

"We could just not tell 'im." Dosu suggested.

"What do you mean? We have to tell him!"

"Well if we do you know he's gonna kill us right?"

"We can't lie to Lord Orochimaru!"

"Stop bein' such a square, Kabuto! The kid's gone and **if** he comes back we'll kill 'im."

Kabuto sat and thought for a moment, Dosu was actually making logical sense for once. It was true if they told Orochimaru that they had failed their mission he would kill all three... well there was a possibility he wouldn't kill Kimimaro but he would kill Dosu and himself for sure.

"Let's head back to the village." Kabuto finally said and Dosu smirked.

"This is unwise." Kimimaro said.

"Who cares what you think." Was Dosu's reply before they made their way back to the leaf village.

Keep running, just keep running.

That was all that was going through Naruto's head, run and don't stop for anything. He had no idea where he was going, he had never been this far away from the village before and he found the further away he got, the less trees and greenery there was until eventually it all turned to dead desert.

He walked through it for two days, the head was unbearable. He clutched his father's shinobi headband to his chest as if it were his only life preserve. The heat however eventually got to him and he found his already blurry vision beginning to fade to darkness and he collapsed in the sand.


	12. Saviours In The Sand

**SAVIOURS IN THE SAND**

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for five minutes!?"

"What? All I was sayin' is that --"

"I **know** what you are saying and I'm telling you know that I don't care."

"Your just jealous that I was picked to be squad leader this time."

"I COULDN'T CARE LE --"

"Shut up both of you. Or I'll kill you."

The two that were previously arguing immediately stopped talking, they watched the back of the youngest of their group, red hair, rather short stature but that did not make him any less intimidating.

"S -- sure thing, Gaara." The man dressed in all back replied while looking over at his sister who was the one he had been arguing with earlier.

Things were painfully quiet as they made their way back to Suna. Travelling through the forests always annoyed Gaara to no end, there was a reason he was called Gaara of the Desert and it was not for enduring the painful missions that involved him leaving his comfort zone.

"Woah, woah, hold up guys. Temari do you see that?" The man dressed in black pointed to a large lump of colored cloth that seemed to be half covered by sand.

"Who cares, let's go." Temari stated as she shifted her large fan to a more comfortable position on her back.

"You guys go ahead I just want to see what it is okay?"

"What, Kankuro!" Temari called and rushed after her little brother leaving her youngest brother to either continue walking back to Suna, or accompany his siblings to see whatever it is they had seen. He eventually rolled his eyes and began following them.

"What is it?" Kankuro asked as he nudged the large pile with his foot.

"Don't do that you loser!" Temari yelled and punched her brother in the shoulder before bending down and wiping sand away.

"God god, it's a kid." She said more to herself than anyone else but there was no mistaking it. She gently began moving the kid so he was out of the sand and they saw he was covered in cuts and bruises.

"Hey, kid?" Temari lightly slapped the boy's cheek but he didn't rouse.

"Here." Kankuro handed her his water canteen and the blond woman opened it and poured some water of the kid's face. The blond boy suddenly shot up, spluttering and coughing.

"Here." Temari handed her Kankuro's water and the child chugged it down greadily. When his thirst was quenched he looked around at the three people surrounding him. The blond woman holding him in her arms had the kindest expression of the lot, the one in black was looking at the empty canteen he was holding with a hint of iridium. However the last guy who looked to be about his age had a look on his face that was similar to what he had seen on Dosu's face, but ten times worse.

"Hey what's your name?" The girl asked, and the blond boy turned to her.

"Naruto." He replied and suddenly the guy dressed in black started laughing his head off.

"Steamed fish? HAHAHA that's hilarious!" He continued to laugh until sand began to crawl it's way up his leg. Kankuro stopped laughing and glanced down and then at his red headed brother.

"Gaara, stop please." Temari said quietly. The red head simply glared at her and began walking away.

"Come on, kid. We'll get you to Suna and you can get cleaned up and then tell us what you were doin' out here all by yourself." Kankuro said and helped Naruto to his feet and then began walking.

Naruto had heard of Suna, he had heard his father talking to one of his advisers about it once and apparently they were on rocky ground with the neighboring country -- Naruto quickly stopped himself from thinking that, he was no longer a leaf shinobi, he had killed the Hokage and there was no forgiving that.

"So what happened Naruto?" Temari asked Naruto as they came upon Suna, it was, according to Kankuro, was a huge town that was surrounded by two hundred foot high walls.

"I... did something terrible, I really don't wanna talk about it." Naruto replied while looking at his feet.

"Good we don't wanna hear about it." Kankuro said carelessly and earned himself a fist in the face by his older sister.

"Kankuro, you're an embarrassment." Came a soft but harsh voice. Naruto turned to see Gaara glaring at his older brother, the blond boy kept glancing between the three siblings trying to figure them out. He understood Temari and Kankuro, they acted like siblings should, arguing and fighting but still showing hints of caring for each other.

Gaara however was a differrent story. He seemed to be genuinely disgusted by Kankuro and the constant blood lust Naruto could see in the boy's teal eyes gave him chills up his spine.

The sand siblings led Naruto into Suna, the minute they entered the blond boy seemed to notice everyone avoiding them. Children would run to their parents, old people would hide in their houses and adults seemed to scowl or turn in fear.

"Why is everyone..." Naruto started but was cut off by Kankuro slapping his hand over the boy's mouth, just in time for Gaara to turn and glare daggers at him.

"He didn't know Gaara." He turned to Naruto and whispered. "Apologise to him, I'll explain later."

Naruto didn't quite understand, Gaara was obviously very sensitive about whatever reason the citizens of Suna act weird around him, he shrugged and just decided to go with the flow.

"Uh... sorry?"

Gaara simply glared and walked away and ended up jumping from building to building until he was out of sight.

"Sorry about him... he's had a rough life." Temari said quietly, still watching where her little brother once stood.

"How? I mean it seems you and Kankuro are doing fine, I mean he still has you guys right?" Temari and Kankuro looked at each other but said nothing, only led Naruto to their home.

* * *

I'm sorry for how short this one is and I apologize to anyone who does not like the idea of the sand siblings replacing Timone and Pumba. However I can assure you that I will do my best to keep up their original personalities.

Thanks again to all of you who comment and Echo Uchiha. :)


	13. Ten Years Later

Sorry for the late addition, I have been busy today.

Anyways, enjoy :)

* * *

**TEN YEARS LATER**

After a few days of staying the Sabaku siblings in their manor, he had learned that they were the children of the Kazekage, he noticed that Temari and Kankuro were reasonably carefree but the few times he was around while Gaara was with his father it was as if strangers were in the room together.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and before anyone knew it, Naruto had turned eighteen years old and been granted position of a Suna Anbu officer, Naruto often noticed the similarities between his original home village Konoha and his now current home Suna.

Such as the ranking was exactly the same going from genin to chunin to jounin and from there if you were deemed worthy enough by the Kazekage you became an Anbu soldier. Naruto noticed that the only difference between the Anbu that protected his father and the Anbu that protected the Kazekage were the outfits.

The Anbu outfits for Konoha were pretty basic with black pants, undershirt and the trademark white vest armor. However with the Suna Anbu everything was red, pants sandals and vests. Temari had explained it had something to do with blending in with the terrain.

"Naruto have you handed in your mission reports to the Kazekage?" Asked one of his fellow Anbu officers, the blond shook his head before making his way to the Kazekage's tower.

"No I'm on my way to do it now." He replied stoically, it had been years since the young shinobi had shown any kind of emotion to anyone other than his 'adoptive' siblings.

"You might wanna stay clear of that train wreck, he's been in a bad mood all week you're lucky you had that mission." Naruto ignored the Anbu and disappeared, heading to the Kazekage's tower. Once he got there he entered through the balcony door, it was very rare that he would ever enter through the actual door at the risk of getting something thrown at him by the Kazekage who, apparently, was in a bad mood.

"There's no point in you hiding in the shadows if I know you're there." The soft but harsh voice of the Kazekage cut through the silence, Naruto walked along the ceiling support beams then fell backwards, now hanging upside down right in front of of said man's face.

"Rumor has it that you're in a bad mood." Naruto stated with a slight hint of a smile on his face.

The red headed Kazekage sighed and pushed the blond boy's face forward causing his chakra controlled feet to disconnect with the support beam, who quickly flipped and landed in a kneeling position.

"What's wrong, Gaara?" He asked as he stood to his full height that towered over the land's ruler by at least four inches.

"Nothing." Was the simply reply before the shorter man went over to his desk and sat down, obviously pretending to do paperwork.

Naruto rolled his eyes and jumped up on the desk sitting cross-legged on Gaara's work and then put his finger under the red head's chin, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

"Tell me."

"I've been having problems with the elders lately. Even though I am the Kazekage now they still treat me like a mindless killing machine... maybe I am."

That was when Naruto's fist connected hard with Gaara's cheek, cracking the sand armour. The red head glanced up in shock at his best friend and his hand flew to his face where he had been hit.

"I don't **ever** want to hear you say that, ever again. Do you understand me?" Naruto had a rather angry look on his face that Gaara never saw often. The whisker marks of the man's face had become more distinguished, his canine teeth seemed to grow a few centimeters and his eyes turned from that beautiful vibrant blue to a violent red.

"Naruto..." Gaara said slowly and said boy blinked furiously and shook his head rapidly.

"Sorry."

"I take it your demon is getting harder and harder to control."

"You could say that."

Gaara knew all about the incident with the nine tailed fox, however Naruto left out any detailed that related him to the deaths of his mother and father or even to them in general as well as any ties to Konoha itself. The last thing the blond boy needed was for Suna, Konoha's enemy country to know that they were sheltering and protecting the son of the late Hokage.

"Can't be any harder than controlling Shukaku though, right?" Naruto stated trying to laugh off the serious matter.

Gaara opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by Naruto placing something on his desk and quickly leaving. The red head sighed in annoyance, sometimes that blond headed idiot could be a problem.

It was hot, it was always hot. Naruto hated it, he hated the constant wind and sand storms, not being able to feel the cool rain on his face, the feeling of the leaves, trees, grass. He missed the cool breeze but most of all, he missed Hinata. Yes he missed the others like Neji, Iruka-sensei, his classmates and even his Uncle Orochimaru but none of them compared to the friendship he had with the shy and timid Hyuuga girl.

The more he thought about her the more he wanted to cry for he knew he could never go back, it simply wasn't an option after what he had done.

Naruto watched silently as the sun set and the stars slowly began to reveal themselves, the boy thought back to something his father had once told him.

_"Naruto, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great Hokage's from generations past look down on us from those stars. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those stars will __**always**__ be there to guide you. And so will I."_

Tears began to pour down his face as he remembered, his father was a brilliant man, strong and courageous, everything his son was not and that is why he was hiding like a coward in the sand city.

He angrily wiped the tears from his face and glared up at the stars.

"You said you'd always be there for me!" He lowered his head, more tears sliding down his face. "But you're not... and it's my fault... all my fault."

"Naruto?" Came a soft female voice, said blond looked up to come face to face with Temari.

"Oh, hey Temari." He tried to force a smile but the green eyed girl saw straight through him.

"Come here." Was all she said before pulling him into a sideways hug so he was leaning his head on her shoulder.

That was the thing he liked best about Temari, she would never ask questions but only comforted him when he needed it the most.

"Here you go." She handed him a yellow scroll. He took it from her and broke the seal to read it.

"We're being sent out again, so soon?" He asked while examining the mission scroll and Temari nodded her head.

"Gaara said he trusts no one else to do it." She replied and Naruto sighed but nodded his head.

"I guess I'll meet you at the entrance tomorrow morning." He stated before climbing off the top of the roof and into his bedroom window where he attempted to get the little sleep he could before he would have to rise to go on this mission.


	14. Recognition

Two chapters in one day, woo!

* * *

**RECOGNITION**

"It's not like you to be late." Kankuro stated to the blond as he walked across the rooftops to the main entrance were most of his team was waiting for him. Gaara used to be part of that team but ever since he became Kazekage he was too valuable to be sent on missions.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked and his team mates.

"Yeah, do you know the mission criteria?" Temari asked while shifting her fan on her back.

"Find whoever has been setting those paper bombs and traps around the trees and surrounding area of the desert, preventing travelers and traders coming through to Suna. Capture any hostile forces and return then to the Kazekage for sentencing." The blond replied emotionlessly.

"Yano you've gotta learn to lighten up, dude." Kankuro commented as they made their way out of Suna.

"We're Anbu, Kankuro. We should be taking everything seriously."

"We'll there's such a thing as too much seriousness... right Temari?"

"I have to agree with my idiot of a brother on this, Naruto. Sometimes you're way too tense." Temari looked over at the blond boy who didn't reply, simply pulling the red and black kabuki mask over his face.

"Well I guess that's the end of that conversation then." Temari mumbled before pulling her own mask over her own face.

They ran in silence for almost two days straight, halfway through the second day Temari had ordered the blond to stop so they could rest and reluctantly he obliged, letting them rest for an hour before making them get up so they could continue their journey.

"I found a paper bomb." Kankuro called to their team leader.

"Yes and there are several here as well." Naruto replied as he expertly pealed the bomb from the tree without detonating it.

"This is ridiculous, these things could go on for miles!" Temari exclaimed loudly as she followed the bombs through the trees.

"They're not very well hidden, whoever put them here obviously wasn't very skilled."

"Or that we've been incredibly foolish for falling into such a trap, Temari, Kankuro, regroup right --" Before he could finish his sentence, a kunai was to his neck. The hostile enemy so close to him he could feel their body pressing close against his back.

Naruto stood still, not out of fear but out of interest to see what this person was going to do. The person slid their free hand down Naruto's body, removing any weapons he had on his person.

"Fox? Fox, come in Fox." Came Temari's voice through the headset, Fox was his code name so he didn't have to reveal his real name to enemies.

The person behind him reached up and took the headset from him, crushing it under their foot before turning the blond to face them.

To say he was surprised was an understatement, he was shocked and astounded.

"What's a Konoha Anbu doing all the way out here all by himself?" Naruto asked in a hushed, quiet voice. The Konoha Anbu had on a feline red and white mask that concealed the wearers identity but behind the mask he could see long black hair.

"But you're not alone are you?" Naruto smirked from behind his mask. "There are two more, one in the tree left of me and another following one of my companions."

The Konoha anbu looked to the side, probably over at their companion in the tree, however that was just enough time for Naruto to rush to the side and elbow him in the gut, sending him flying backwards and hitting a tree.

The blond haired Anbu stared him for a moment, images of how his mother died flashed in his head. He quickly snapped out of his daydream when he heard a twig snap and looked to the side where the second leaf shinobi was suppose to be but thankfully he saw Temari there already tying him up.

"Your headset." Naruto ordered her and she wasted no time in throwing it to him. He placed it around his neck and in his ear.

"Wolf, this is Fox do you read me?" Naruto asked, there was static for a minute before;

"I hear you loud and clear, Fox. Just bagged me a Konoha rat." Naruto smirked behind his mask at his adoptive brother's playful tone.

"Affirmative, we are south east of you, regroup and we shall return to the village. Over."

About five minutes later Kankuro arrived dragging another long haired Konoha Anbu, once they had all three round up they began making their way back to Suna.

"You're not going to interogate us, even remove our masks?" The only short haired captive asked as he looked at Naruto. The blond shinobi glanced back at him for a second but then looked forward, not bothering to answer.

"Eh, ignore him he's in a bad mood." Kankuro explained.

"Kankuro! You're not suppose to talk to them!" Temari exclaimed.

"Aw come on Temari, I was just bein' friendly." Kankuro replied with his hands up. Suddenly Naruto stopped and turned, grabbing his adoptive siblings by the front of their red shirts.

"Are you away you just said each other's names in front of our enemy? How careless can you be?" He hissed at them.

"W -- we're sorry Nar -- I mean Fox. It won't happen again." Kankuro said, staring at Naruto with wide eyes behind his mask.

"It dosn't matter now, they know your names."

"We won't tell." Came a soft female reply.

Naruto looked over at the at one of the long haired Anbu, the one who had put the kunai to his neck. He walked over and knelt next to her, now knowing that it was indeed a female.

"You expect me to trust your word?" He whispered to her.

"I expect you to be tolerant." She replied, almost harshly.

The blond didn't reply only roughly took her arm and yanked her to her feet, Kankuro and Temari took that as a signal to do the same with the others and they made their way back to Suna.

When they finally did reach Suna and the Konoha Anbu were escorted through the city towards the Kazekage's office, people stared and pointed. Children even threw rocks, however that was ceased when Naruto growled angrily at them and they ran back to their parents in fear.

Naruto carelessly threw the leaf shinobi through the Kazekage's door so she stumbled and landed with a loud thud at the foot of the desk, the other two soon joined her.

"What is this?" Gaara asked, not even looking up from his paper work.

"The shinobi who have been setting bombs around the perimitter. From what I gather they have been setting up traps and bombs all the way back to their village." Naruto explained.

Gaara rose from his seat and walked around the desk to the leaf shinobi who were now on their knees with their head's bowed.

"You didn't remove their masks?"

"That is not my job."

"You truly are one of the best Anbu I have."

"I'm honored."

"You don't take compliments well, do you Naruto?"

"Naruto?" Everyone glanced down at the female Anbu who had turned her face back to look at the blond.

"You're alive?! You're actually alive!" The girl struggled to get to her feet but tumbled into Naruto's chest for her efforts. Naruto stepped back and let her fall.

"What's goin' on here?" Kankuro asked as he removed his mask.

Temari did the same but Naruto kept his on, it was something that seemed to protect him against the current situation.

"I must go." And with that he jumped onto the balcony and fell forward, leaving his best friend and siblings to deal with the problem.


	15. Together Again

**TOGETHER AGAIN**

Naruto paced angrily on the roof of his home, why now, he had spent so long hiding from his past and it had come back into his life without an invitation and with a vengeance.

"Naruto?" Said man turned to face the Sand jounin that had approached him.

"What?" He growled out with an angered glare from behind his mask.

"Uh, the Lord Kazekage wishes to speak with you."

Naruto sighed before standing and disappearing from the his spot and found himself on the balcony of Gaara's office.

"You wished to see me." Naruto said emotionlessly as he walked on top of the rafters back and forth, his hands behind his back.

"Come down here. I need to speak to you." Gaara's voice was harsh and demanding, the type of tone he had never used to directly address Naruto before. Said blond sighed before dropping from the rafters.

"Why did you not tell me?" Gaara asked staring up at the blond headed boy. Naruto didn't reply, only looked to the side.

"Take off your mask please." The Kazekage was speaking softly now.

With a roll of his eyes Naruto did so, and he looked at his best friend with an irritated look.

"I have interrogated them, the young female refuses to speak to anyone but you." The red head explained and pointed to the door that lead to the holding cell from his office. The blond sighed but walked through the door anyway, he didn't want to do this but it was a request from his Kazekage and he knew better than to refuse the young demon container.

"Naruto!"

"Hinata?"

"Oh Naruto what are you doing here in Suna?"

Naruto looked the young woman up and down, she had defiantly changed a lot in the past ten years. She was no longer a little girl that was for sure, she still had those pale purple eyes and her hair had grown to rival that of her cousin's.

The Sand shinobi looked to the side to see exactly who her companions were and weither he knew them or not.

"Neji..." Naruto stared at the man he had once knew as a child and then to the third member of their party and remembered him well as the lazy kid that always slept during class.

"Shikamaru Nara?"

"Ain't you a sight for sore eyes." Was the genius' reply.

The blond sand shinobi just stared at the three for a moment before performing a few hand signs and then placing his palm on the seal that held their cell door shut.

"You two stay, you come with me." He indicated to Hinata who, without hesitation, left her team mates behind and followed Naruto out of the prison cell area and back to the Kazekage's office.

"Lord Kazekage?" Gaara turned to face his best Anbu officer.

"What is it?"

"I seek permission to take one of the prisoners away from their designated isolation area."

Gaara looked Hinata over before letting a very small smile slip on his lips. "Permission granted."

Naruto led Hinata out of the Kazekage's tower and down the streets of Suna, neither of them said a word as naruto led her to the training grounds where probably the only trees in the whole of the sand village grew. They surrounded a small amount of water, the area could easily pass off as an oasis.

They stopped walking and the blond haired boy leaned against one of the trees and closed his eyes, Hinata stared at him, not knowing what to do.

"You know if you're going to interogate me you --"

She was cut off by Naruto abruptly wrapping both arms around her and pulling her to him in a close embrace, she stared up into his eyes, pale violet met bright ocean blue and eventually their lips also met.

The kiss was short but sweet, Naruto remembered a time when all he had to do was stand next to the shy girl and she would blush a deep red and almost faint, now however it was as if she were almost in charge, pulling him closer by wrapping her own arms around his neck.

When they pulled away for air, Naruto leaned his forehead on hers and closed hims eyes. His hands found hers and slowly intertwined their fingers.

"I missed you so much." She whispered, her eyes also closed.

"I missed you too." He whispered back.

"It's like you're back from the dead. You don't know how much this will mean to everyone... what it means to me."

"It means the world to me too. It's been almost unbearable without you." He ran his right hand over her face in a loving motion.

They pulled away from each other and he wiped the tears that were slowly falling down her face and he smiled softly at her. He led her over to the lake and sat with her, she took off her sandals and dipped her feet in the water. He was happy to be with her again, he had missed her so much and now he had her back, it seemed that everything, for once in his life, was going smoothly.

* * *

Sorry for the shortness of this one although in my defence I have already posted two chapters today so I'm actually quite proud of myself. Thanks to everyone who comments, favourites, sets to alert and just to those who read it in general :P


	16. Arguments And Inner Turmoil

I haven't said this in a while so I figure I should. I don't own Naruto or Lion King etc etc

Anyways sorry for the late update I've been busy putting decorations on our AWSOME and REAL christmas tree woo! Man I love christmas.

Anyway enjoy :)

**ARGUMENTS AND INNER TURMOIL**

"I don't understand something. You've been alive all this time, why is it you never came back to Konoha?" She asked suddenly, looking over at him.

"Well I just... needed to get out on my own. Start a new life and I did... it's great." The blond replied as he walked over the water using his chakra concentration.

"We've really needed you at home." She said sadly, he only rolled his eyes and looked away.

"No one needs me."

"Yes we do! You're the rightful Hokage."

"Hinata we've been through this I'm not the Hokage. Orochimaru is."

"Naruto he's let the sound ninja take over the village."

"What?"

"Everything's gone to hell over there! He imprisons anyone who stands up to him, Naruto if you don't do something so everyone's going to die!"

The blond stared at her with stern eyes, he couldn't, **wouldn't** go back.

"Well what about you, Neji and Shikamaru? You all left and not to mention attacked a neighbouring village!" He yelled.

"We did that to get someone's attention and find help! And we found you don't you understand? You're our **only hope**!" She was glaring at him now.

"I can't go back." He said quietly and began walking away.

"You have to!" She yelled and rushed after him, grabbing his arm. He glared down at her and yanked his arm out of her grip.

"Why?!" He screamed.

"Because it's your responsibility!" She screamed back. He stared at her for a second, seeing a figure in her he had not seen in ten years.

"Yano you're beginning to sound like my father." He mumbled but loud enough so she could hear him.

"Good, at least one of us does." The minute she said it she glanced up to see the shocked look on Naruto's face. It was then that he walked over to her with such anger that she truly thought he was going to hit her.

"Look, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!"

"I would if you just tell me!"

"Forget it!"

"FINE!"

Naruto angrily stomped away leaving the Hyuuga girl by herself. He made his way just outside the village where he knew he would be alone to cool down.

"She's wrong! I can't go back and even if I do it won't change anything!" He roared to himself as he paced back and forth through the rock and rubble of the outer walls. As he was pacing angrily, he failed to notice a small figure that was at his feet until it was too late and he tripped over it.

"Hey watch where you're treadin'!" Can a low voice and Naruto looked down in bewilderment. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw, it was a dog. A dog wearing a leaf shinobi headband and a blue vest.

"What the --"

"Well hello there."

Naruto looked up to where the second voice had come from and saw a man with a black mask over his face and one eye covered by yet again a leaf shinobi headband.

"... I'm leaving." Was all the blond said before walking away and much to his annoyance, the masked man decided to follow. It wouldn't have bothered his so much had the man not been giggling every three seconds because of whatever he was reading.

"Come on, would you cut it out?" Naruto asked as he turned to the masked man who glanced at him over the top of his book.

"I can't, it's a good book." Was all the masked ninja replied with before going back to giggling. Naruto bent sideways to see exactly what it was that this man was reading.

"Icha Icha Tactics..." He read aloud, it took him a moment to think of exactly what it was but then he remembered seeing those books in Kankuro's room once and he immediately scrunched up his face in disgust. "You pervert!"

Naruto tried to even run away from this guy but he seemed to be able to keep up and that annoyed the blond to no end.

"Will ya stop followin' me!" he yelled and attempted to hit the masked man but the guy was like water, he just wouldn't stay still.

"DAMMIT STAY STILL AND LET ME HIT YOU!!" Naruto screamed and the masked man smirked.

"You sounded like Minato when you said that."

That one comment stopped Naruto in his tracks. He stared at the masked man with wide, ocean blue eyes.

"You... you knew my father?"

"Ah correction young one, I **know** your father."

"Well I uh... hate to have to be the one to tell you this but he... died... ten years ago."

The blond looked at his feet trying to forget the memories of his father's death.

"What a surprise that you're wrong again hehehe." Naruto stared at the masked man with confusion.

"What are you talking about? Of course he's dead, I watched him die." The blond was angry now, how dare this man just show up and assume things that never were?

"I guess I'm going to have to show him to you. Follow Kakashi and you'll get your answers." The masked man who had now been dubbed Kakashi, started walking off in the direction of... well absolutely nothing in Naruto's opinion but the blond followed none the less.

They walked for what seemed like hours, the sun was due to come up in a few hours and the blond worried weither he would be able to get back to Suna in time before anyone really noticed he was missing.

Eventually they came upon and oasis that Naruto was not even away actually existed in the desert lands.

"Look down there." Kakashi whispered to the blond and pointed at the water, Naruto glanced at him before walking down to the water and peering into it. He cocked his head to the side when he saw himself and sighed.

"That's not my father... only my reflection." How could he have been so stupid to believe this guy?

"Really?" Naruto looked up at him in time to see him move his headband up so both eyes were now visible, one was red with black. He stared into it.

"Look harder, Naruto." Kakashi said and turned the boy back to the pond where he once again stared down. True he saw his reflection again but then ripples began to form and his reflection changed into a mirror image of his father.

"You see, he lives in you." Kakashi's words washed over him like a clear water.

"Naruto..." That voice, how could he ever forget that voice. The blond looked up at the clouds and sure enough they had formed together to make a white, fluffy image of his father.

"...Dad?" He asked.

"Naruto, you have forgotten me."

"No, how could I?"

"You have forgotten who you are and so you have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Naruto, you are more than what you have become. You **must** take your place in the circle of life."

"How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be..."

"Just remember who you are. You are my son and the one true Hokage..."

The clouds began to fade away as was Minato's voice. Naruto's eyes widened and he began to chase the clouds, desperate to hold on to his father for just that little bit longer.

"No dad! Don't leave me, not again!" He screamed as he ran, the words 'remember who you are' kept echoing through the lands until the cloud figure disappeared as if it never were.

"Don't leave me..." The blond stared at the sky sadly.

"What was that?!" Kakashi suddenly cutting him out of his thoughts by smacking him hard on the back. "The weather, very peculiar don't you think?"

"Yeah... it looks like the winds are changing." Naruto replied slightly dazed.

"Ah change is good."

"Yeah but it's not easy." The blond smiled slightly and looked over at the silver haired man who had now replaced his headband over his eye. "I know what I have to do but going back will mean I'll have to face my past. I've been running from it for so long."

All of a sudden Naruto heard the sound of birds, he looked around to see where it was coming from and his eyes rested on Kakashi just in time to see the man's hand surrounded in blue lightening just as he thrust it straight into the blond's chest.

Naruto coughed and gasped for breath as he collapsed to his knees holding his stomach.

"What the hell was that for!?" He roared once he had gotten his breath back, he rose back to his feet still holding his stomach.

"It dosn't matter it's in the past." The the leaf shinobi's replied with a smile that Naruto could only tell he was giving by his one eye that closed happily.

"Yeah but it really hurts." He mumbled while rubbing his stomach.

"Oh yes the past can hurt but the way I see it you can either from it or... learn from it." He got his arm ready to start up another blue lightening attack when Naruto threw a kunai at him, stopping him from doing so.

"Ha! You see!" Kakashi exclaimed happily. "Now what are you going to do?"

"First, I'm gonna take your book." Naruto reached forward and expertly took the book from him before the other man could protect and threw it behind him.

"No, no, no, no, not the book!" Kakashi yelled and ran to retrieve it, when the masked man turned he saw Naruto walking away from him. "Hey, where are you going!?"

"I'm going back!"


	17. Return To Konoha

**RETURN TO KONOHA**

Hinata walked through Suna, she was lost. Naruto had left here there all alone even though she was suppose to be a prisoner, she made a point to keep her head down for she couldn't help but notice all the villagers giving her harsh stares however there were some that were some that were smiling happily at her.

She eventually made her way back to the building she had been kept prisoner in, the Kazekage's tower. She walked through with the guards giving her wary looks but not revealing that they cared enough to follow, she thought that rather unorthadox considering she could walk straight up to the Kazekage and kill him. Either they underestimated her greatly, or their Kazekage was one hell of an amazing fighter.

"Enter." Came that low voice when she knocked in the red head's office door.

She walked through and he stared at her, she looked around and saw the two people that had captured her and her companions along with Naruto.

"You... haven't happen to have seen Naruto... have you?" She asked shyly.

"He was suppose to be with you." Kankuro stated with a glare, what did he think she'd killed him or something?

"H -- He was... but now I -- I can't find him, we had an argument." She looked at her feet as she said this.

"An argument? What the **hell** did you do to him!?" Temari yelled as she grabbed the front of Hinata's white vest armor and pulled her up.

"Pardon my intrusion, but if you're looking for Naruto you won't find him here." Came a calm voice from the rafters, everyone looked up.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata exclaimed happily.

"What's goin' on here?" Kankuro asked.

"I regret to inform the Sand ninja, but the Hokage has returned." Kakashi said with a smile from behind his mask.

"Returned? Hokage? What are you talking about?" Temari stared up at him with confusion.

"Naruto is the son of Konoha's fourth Hokage, what this masked ninja means is that he has returned to his village to claim that title." It was the first time Gaara had spoken since Hinata had entered the office.

"I don't believe it, he's actually gone back!" Hinata said happily to herself.

"Hey wait a minute... what exactly is going on here?" Kankuro asked, being the slowest of the group Temari sighed and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Naruto's gone back to challenge his Uncle to take his rightful place as ruler of Konoha." Hinata explained slowly for him, Kankuro's mouth formed an o.

Hinata then turned to Gaara and bowed her head deeply.

"Please Lord Kazekage, I beg you let me and my team mates go so we can assist Naruto in his battle."

Gaara simply stared at her with dull green eyes before he rose to his feet, she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Naruto is like a brother to me, any battle that is his is also mine. Kankuro, go to the cell blocks and release the prisoners and then assemble a team of fifteen Anbu to head to Konoha." Gaara said all this with little to no emotion.

"Uh sure thing... Gaara." His older brother replied before making his way to prison cells to release Neji and Shikamaru.

"Miss Hyuuga, you and your team are permitted to leave whenever you wish."

"Oh thank you!" Hinata bowed again before turning and running into the cell block to where her team mates were.

"Is this wise, Gaara?" Temari asked.

"By blood or not he is and always will be my brother and I will do all I can to aid him in his battles as he did with mine." Was the reply.

"Gaara honestly this is different, you are talking about going against another village in war."

"I don't care."

It took him two days, two days and he never ever forgot how to get there despite how long it had been since he last stepped foot on Konoha soil. He stared in horror at what he saw, the once beautiful village had become a run down hovel and it almost broke his heart when he saw the graffiti all over the Hokage's mountain which also had Orochimaru's ugly mug right there larger than any of the others.

"It's awful isn't it?"

Naruto turned to come face to face with Neji, Hinata and Shikamaru and to his surprise, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari.

"We're gonna fight your uncle for this dump?" Kankuro asked and earned himself an elbow in the gut from Temari.

"What are you all doing here? This isn't your fight." The bond said.

"Any fight of yours is a fight of ours." Temari said practically quoting her youngest brother and the brothers nodded.

"And this is our home too. We want to help you because we believe you can be the Hokage we need." Neji explained and Naruto smiled.

"You sure you want to do this Naruto?" Gaara asked softly.

"Yes Gaara. This is my home and if I don't fight for it who will?" The blond replied once again looking over the all but destroyed village.

"We will." Hinata replied and the blond looked back at all of them with a thankful smile before staring off into the distance.

This was **his** village and no one was going to keep it from him any longer.


	18. Trouble On The Homestead

Hey sorry for the really late update. I can't even make up for it in length although I take it all of you who read this story don't expect very much in length.

I thank you all for commenting.

Oh and I am also aware that the name for this chapter 'Trouble On The Homestead' is also a name of a mission in the game Fallout 3, sorry if this upsets some people I just really really wanted to use that name for a chapter :)

**TROUBLE ON THE HOMESTEAD**

"The whole place is overrun by sound ninja." Temari said as she stared in awe, they were hiding out on the top of the Hokage's mountain, it was apparent that Orochimaru didn't let anyone up there and they were about to find out why.

"Naruto!"

Said blond turned in time to see Hinata running at him with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her, only to have her cling tighter to him.

"Oh god..." That was Temari who had come over pale as a sheet, Naruto stared at the crying girl in his arms and the woman he had considered an older sister for the better part of ten years.

"What is it?" He walked over to the area where both women had come back from and had to turn away.

"It's a metalic taste... surgical." Naruto looked over at Gaara and then back at the horrific sight that was hundreds of bodies, mutilated and destroyed.

"How... how could he do this? These are our people, **my** people!" The longer Naruto looked and thought about it, the more angry he got.

"Calm down, Naruto." Neji had put his hand on the blond's shoulder and he turned to stare at him with red eyes.

"I'll kill him... **I'll kill him!**" Naruto roared loudly but was quickly silenced by Shikamaru putting his hand over his mouth. It took Gaara, Neji, Kankuro and Shikamaru to hold him down and prevent him from doing something incredibly stupid.

"Get ahold of yourself, you are an Anbu and you should know better." Kankuro hissed in his ear. Naruto sighed angrily but forced himself to calm down.

"How the hell are we gonna get through the village without someone noticing sand ninja walking through?" The blond asked through grit teeth.

"We can help you with that." Shikamaru stated.

"Anbu squad seven, you were due back two days ago." Said the guard at the gate. Neji violently ripped the cloth bag from Gaara's head.

"We were busy." Neji said with a smirk.

"We were ambushed by the Suna soldiers but we overpowered them and captured their four best fighters including the Kazekage himself." Shikamaru explained. The guard walked over to Gaara who was tied and bound with what seemed like chakra suppressing cuffs as were the other three 'captives' Naruto, Temari and Kankuro who all had the cloth sacks on their heads and were removed to show the guard.

"This is good, Lord Orochimaru has been looking to overthrow Suna for a long time now. Now he doesn't have to do that sneak attack he was going to do." The guard stated with a small chuckle. Gaara's eyes went wide and his knuckles went white.

"Let's go you." Neji stated once he noticed this and began to drag Gaara into the village as the others were escorted in a little less roughly by Shikamaru and Hinata.

"You need to calm down." Shikamaru whispered in Gaara's ear who only sighed in return. The bags were replaced back on their heads and then were taken up to the Hokage's tower for sentencing from the Hokage.

"Hey what the hell are you doin' around here?" Naruto almost tripped over his own feet when he heard that voice, it was a voice he knew all to well but he had never suspected that Orochimaru had anything to do with them, now he was certain that his so called Uncle had something or everything to do with the two incidences when he was a child that involved the three sound ninja.

"We are taking these captives to see the Hokage, Lord Dosu." Hinata replied, if Naruto could see her he would have been staring at her as if she had three heads. Since when was a sound ninja that was barely welcome and had almost killed her as a child, addressed as 'lord'?

"Better make it quick, he ain't in the best of moods." He began to walk away but stopped and turned to the young Hyuuga girl. "Oi and when you get off, feel free to come to my chambers aye darlin'."

He winked and walked away leaving almost every man there steaming mad, especially Neji and Naruto.

"Come on." Shikamaru stated and proceeded to drag the prisoners down the corridor. They came to the Hokage's office door that seemed to be the only door that was not run down, broken or destroyed. They knocked, Naruto was visibly shaking whether it be from fear or anger he didn't really know, all he knew was that Orochimaru was going to pay for what he had done to Konoha and his friends. Hinata slipped her hand into the blond's bound one for a brief moment for emotional support. She looked at him with eyes that shined with love, hope and courage and that was what gave Naruto the boost of confidence he needed to carry on.

"Enter." Came the snake-like tone that he could never forget.

This was it, the confrontation he had been dreading since he was eight years old.


	19. Hiatus

Okay hi there everyone,

I just wanna take the time to say thanks to all those who favourited this story and added it to your alert list, one person even added me as a favourite author because of it. So thanks alot for that.

However there is a tiny problem. I currently have the worst writers block in the world and the crappy thing that goes with writers block for me is I start to think of a completely different story and forget all about the one I'm writing. But I can guarantee you all that I **will** come back to this story because it's just too much fun to write.

And if anyone has any ideas for this then feel free to give them, I enjoy people's idea and I try my best to please everyone.

So thanks for your patience and all that, if I deem this new story good enough I will post it.

Thanks alot.

:)


	20. I'm Back!

HEY GUYS!

Guess what, I've started writing this story again. I just watched the Lion King 2 yesterday and couldn't help but think of the sequel I have planned for this, but I am not so sad as to not finish this story first for all of you who actually enjoy it.

So I will do my best to finish it this week so I can start on the sequel.

Thanks for putting up with me

:)


	21. Lies And Truth

**LIES AND TRUTH**

The six of them walked into the office Naruto considered himself, for the moment, lucky he could hardly see anything through the back sack on his head. Apparently there was already a meeting in progress however, Naruto recognised the voice but couldn't quite pinpoint who it belonged to.

"Lord Orochimaru, you need to let the traders into the village. We are running out of food and supplies." The voice stated.

"I do not have to justify myself to you, Mr Aburame. You are but a mere jounin and in **my** village **I **make the decisions!"

Naruto knew that last name, Aburame... Shino Aburame. He had been one of the strange ones at the school who constantly kept most of his face hidden. The blond suddenly wished he did not have the sack on his head so he could see what the man looked like now.

"Then you have sentenced **your** village to death!" It was odd to hear Shino so angry when as a kid he hardly showed emotion.

"So be it."

"You can't do that!"

"I am the Hokage I can do whatever I want!"

"If you were half the Hokage Minato was you'd --" Shino's voice was cut off and Naruto heard Hinata gasp, if he weren't bound in chakra suppression cuffs he would have removed the sack on his head to see.

"I AM TEN TIMES THE HOKAGE MINATO WAS AND I AM THE ONLY ONE WITH THE RIGHTS TO THAT TITLE!!" Orochimaru roared at the top of his voice.

"You're wrong."

Everyone went silent, Naruto glanced over to where he thought Hinata was. It wasn't like her to simply interrupt someone, she was a naturally shy person after all.

Orochimaru turned to her with an evil glare. "Is that so? And who is?"

"I am." The bag was removed from Naruto's head and the cuffs disappeared and he stared at the completely dumbfounded sanin.

"Minato? It -- it can't be your dead!" Naruto would have laughed at the almost girlish squeal had the situation been less serious.

"Minato?" Shino asked as he stared at the blond boy standing before him.

"Nah, it's me, Naruto." The blond stated with a cocky grin, Shino looked exactly as how he remembered him the only difference being that he was now taller. The silent shinobi stared wide eyed at him.

"Your alive? How --" He started.

"It don't matter now, I'm home." Naruto looked at Orochimaru as he said this, the look of horror on the sanin's face was evident. It was then that he tried to play it of as shock.

"Oh Naruto! It's a surprise to see you... alive." That last word was more directed to the door and the party of seven turned just to see Dosu, Kabuto and Kimimaro disappear from it. Naruto turned back to Orochimaru.

"I've come to take my place as the rightful Hokage of this village." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his 'Uncle'.

"Oh really?" Orochimaru mused with a small smirk.

"Step down, Uncle. I do not wish to fight you." The blond said seriously.

"Oh I would, naturally. But first, here let me show you something." The snake sanin led the group out of the Hokage's office, down the hall to the balcony that overlooked the citizens. It seemed that once Orochimaru appeared on the balcony, everyone knew to gather around as if he were going to make some kind of great speech.

"You see young Naruto, they think I'm Hokage." He flicked his hand carelessly in front of him, symbolizing to the horde of people.

"Well we don't. Naruto is the righful Hokage and ruler of this village. I bet anything if you asked the true members of this village, they will all agree." Neji stated as he took a step towards the sanin.

"Be careful of your words, young Hyuuga." Orochimaru said with a sadistic grin as he closed the gap between the byakugan user and himself. It was as if something horrible and nasty had shocked him and Neji backed down by at least three steps until he was once again next to Shikamaru, like a scolded dog.

The grin on Orochimaru's face only grew wider, he knew the Hyuuga boy would back down, because **he**, Orochimaru, was the one to be feared.

"That's enough. Either step down or fight." Naruto ordered as he stood forward and got into an offensive stance.

"Oh must this all end in violence, I would **hate** to be responsible for the death of a family member --" The snake-like man smiled evilly at Naruto. "-- wouldn't you agree, young Naruto?"

"That's not going to work! I've put it behind me." Naruto retorted harshly, but the damage was done and his companions looked at him oddly.

"Oh but what about your faithful subjects, have **they** put it behind **them**?"

"Naruto, what is he talking about?" Hinata's voice cut through the silence and she saw his shoulders sag drastically.

"Oh so you haven't told them?" Orochimaru circled the young blond like a hunter circling it's prey, deciding when the perfect moment was to strike. "Well, now is your chance to tell them. Tell them who is responsible for Kushina and Minato's death!"

Everyone's eyes widely turned to Naruto, the whole village was staring up at him and his comrades were staring over at him from behind Orochimaru's men who were preventing them from getting any closer.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked quietly when the blond went silent, it was as if his back had suddenly lost the will to keep the rest of his upper body up and it sagged forward even more. He turned to face his allies with sad eyes.

"I am." He finally whispered but they all heard it.

"No, it's not true! Tell us it's not true, Naruto!" Surprisingly it was Neji who had yelled, Naruto guessed it was because how close he, and the whole Hyuuga family, was to the Uzumaki family. The blonde could do nothing but admit his wrong doings.

"It's true." He replied and turned to face them with a sigh.

"You see, he admits it! He's a murderer!" Orochimaru screeched in delight and he began to circle the young shinobi. Naruto shot up straight and being called a murderer, now that wasn't true, true he was responsible for his father and mother's death but he defiantly didn't **murder** them!

"No that's not true, it was an accident!" He exclaimed, his ocean blue eyes following Orochimaru as the snake-like man circled him like prey.

"If it wasn't for you Minato and Kushina would still be alive. It's **your** fault they're dead, do you deny it?"

"No."

"Then your **guilty!**"

"NO I'M NOT A MURDERER!!"

"Oh Naruto you're in trouble again but this time daddy isn't here to save you." Orochimaru said as he put his thumb to his lips and bit it lightly, just enough to draw blood. "And now everyone. Knows. **WHY!**"

Orochimaru sprung on him so suddenly that not even Naruto himself, being a trained Anbu could have foreseen it. Naruto flew to the side and violently collided with side of the Hokage mountain, Orochimaru jumped after him and smashed his chakra filled hand straight into the blonde's stomach and began pulling.

"W -- what are yo -- u doing!?" He gasped as he desperately tried to force whatever Orochimaru was trying to take from him back inside his chest.

"Now doesn't this look familiar, Naruto?" The sanin hissed in his ear. Naruto looked up at him with a mixture of pain and confusion in his eyes.

"This is just the way your father looked before he died, isn't it?" His grin widen and he pulled harder in what seemed to be Naruto's life force. "Now do you want to hear my little secret?"

Naruto's eyes widened as the snake-like man hissed, "I killed Kushina and Minato..."


	22. The Final Frontier

**THE FINAL FRONTIER**

Gaara, Neji, Kankuro, Temari, Hinata and Shikamaru were all trying their best to get to their comrade but all were being stopped by the sound ninja. They managed to get just close enough to the railing to see Orochimaru trying to rip the orange chakra from Naruto's body.

"Naruto -- !" Hinata called but anything else died in her throat when she saw the red aura emitting from him, his nails were growing, the scars on his face became more defined and larger and his eyes were turning a terrifying shade of red.

"NO!" The demon container roared at the top of his now demonic voice. Hinata swore she blinked and missed the whole thing for Naruto and Orochimaru were no longer on the platform anymore, somehow Naruto had smashed his 'Uncle' straight through the many walls of the Hokage's tower to eventually have him around the throat hanging by his neck over the balcony where the whole village had now gathered to see what was going on. The one most obvious thing was that Orochimaru was now missing two arms, it appeared in Naruto's rage he had ripped them both clean off.

"N --Naruto...!" Orochimaru coughed and gasped for breath he opened his mouth wide and a snake emerged and inside the snake's mouth a sword emerge and would have hit straight through the blond's head had he not seen it coming and quite violently ripped the snake and sword from his Uncle's mouth, the only wound Naruto withstood was the deep laceration in his hand from grabbing the sword.

As strong as Orochimaru was with ninjutsu and genjutsu it didn't mean a god damned thing if he was useless at close combat, an art that apparently Naruto had had some time to experiment with, add that up with the lack of two arms and he was damned near useless.

"TELL THEM THE TRUTH!" The blond roared, Orochimaru did his best to look snide but in his position it only made him look even more feeble and weak. His face was begining to pale drastically due to lack of blood loss.

"B -- bu -- t the tr -- uth has m -- many --" Naruto tightened his grip so much that it began to hurt his hand. The sanin struggled harder but was unable to get out of the death grip.

"Alrigh -- t, alright!" Naruto lowered him so his feet were **just** touching the railing of the balcony, he glanced back and saw his allies gathering behind him to the left and Orochimaru's were gathering to the right.

"I did it." He said quietly between gasping breaths and the blond glared at him, retightening his grip again.

"So they can **hear** you." He hissed loudly, his red eyes narrowed sharply.

"I KILLED KUSHINA AND MINATO! I RELEASED THE NINE TAILED FOX!" He suddenly screamed and immediately Naruto was jumped by Kabuto, Kimimaro and Dosu and in return, Gaara, Neji, Kankuro, Temari, Hinata and Shikamaru attacked.

All out war.

That was the only way to describe this absolute catastrophe. The sound ninja attacked the leaf ninja and in return they all joined Naruto's cause and fought back for the first time in ten years. It was hardly a lost cause but it was most definitely an uphill battle.

"Looks like you could use some help." Came a happy voice from behind Naruto when Dosu had kicked him hard in the stomach sending him hurtling backwards. Naruto looked back to find Kakashi and a man with a scar running across his nose whom he could not forget in a million years standing there with a happy expression and his book in his hands.

"What are you two doing here?" Naruto asked as he got to his feet, Dosu chose that exact moment to come running at them but before Naruto had a chance to deal with Kakashi appeared behind him and doing a move he called "The one thousand years of death" sent the sound ninja flying off of the side of the balcony.

"That was disgusting." The blond stated, he glanced over the edge to see where Dosu had landed but couldn't see him.

"Never mind that now, Naruto. Don't you have something you're suppose to be doing?" Iruka replied and then looked up to the stairs that lead towards Hokage mountain. Naruto followed his gaze and saw a flash of Orochimaru's purple clothes before he disappeared behind the mountain.

"That son of a --"

"Go Naruto, you need to deal with him before you become Hokage." Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder as pushed him towards the mountain staircase. The blond nodded his thanks and began to make his way over, every time a sound ninja would try and stop him, a leaf ninja would get it their way and leave Naruto's path clear.

"I cannot let you pass." Came the emotionless voice of Kimimaro from behind him just as he had reached the staircase.

Naruto stopped and slowly turned to face the white haired man who, upon close inspection, looked a lot more pale than the last time they both confronted each other ten years ago. The sound ninja was also heavily slouching now compared to his once uptight straight backed attitude.

"I'm willing to overlook the problems you have caused me in the past and give you a second chance at life if you step aside and not get in my way." Naruto growled at him, it was getting harder and harder for him to control his inner demon and if he didn't catch up with Orochimaru soon, someone else was going to take it's wrath, someone who didn't truly deserve the punishment.

"I live to protect Lord Orochimaru, if I were to let you pass I will have failed my life's pursuit." He replied almost sadly, he reached behind him and latched his hand onto the bone deformity that was currently growing out his back, Naruto stared.

"You would die for him?" It was more of a statement rather than a question.

"I would." He didn't even blink, Naruto was astounded that **anyone** could be so loyal to such an evil being.

"So be it."

Naruto turned, he was not the one who had said it but instead it was Gaara who already had his arms out, prepared to attack.

"Sand coffin!" The floating sand that was coming out of the gourd flew over and wrapped itself around it's foe in less than two seconds. Gaara was trying to crush Kimimaro but was apparently having some difficulty.

"Gaara --"

"Go, Naruto."

"But --"

"GO!"

Naruto quickly ran up the stairs, only pausing once to look back at one of his best friends who simply told him to hurry up and get moving. The blond did as he was told and began making his way up the huge staircase, every time someone tried to stop him a leaf ninja would come from seemingly nowhere and distract the enemy so he could continue his way to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru sprinted his way up the mountain, he had a secret passageway that led into the mountain and outside the city walls where he could make his escape. He knew that if Naruto were to catch up to him he wouldn't stand a chance.

'The bad guy never wins.' He thought to himself, it didn't matter how strong or powerful he was because in the end Naruto would win even if it was by total coincidence, he would still win. Naruto was simply doing himself a favour and attempting to leave before the shit really hit the fan.

As many thoughts that were running through his head as they were, one thought in particular stuck the most, why had he not finished Naruto himself? Why leave it to mindless minions? Why even leave it up to the nine tailed fox that only succeeded in destroying two thirds of the targets he wished dead?

"OROCHIMARU!" The yell stopped said man in his tracks. He was so close to the secret entrance that he could almost touch it, but it was too late, he had been caught. Nothing left to do but turn around and face the only mistake he believed he ever did. Letting Naruto live.

"Murderer." Naruto hissed as he slowly walked towards him, the demon container's eyes were a horrific shade of red and in the now down pouring rain he looked absolutely cynical.

The snake sanin was doing everything he could to prevent the pain and dizziness from appearing on his face, he didn't even know how his whole defence had gone down this easily. He slowly turned around to face his adversary.

"Yes I suppose I am, no point in denying that logic. However you must think of everything I've ever done for you --" Naruto immediately cut him off.

"Everything you've **ever** told me was a lie." He was upon Orochimaru now with the most hateful glare anyone had ever seen.

"What are you going to do, hm? You wouldn't kill your own Uncle." A glimmer of fear was beginning to show on the elder man's face as Naruto backed him up towards the edge of the mountain.

"You're right, Orochimaru, I would never kill my Uncle." Suddenly before Orochimaru had a chance to look relieved he felt a stabbing, white hot pain go straight through his stomach, his eyes went wide and looked down to see the snake head that was connected to the sword that was now sticking straight through him. He looked up at at Naruto.

"But you're not my Uncle... are you?"


	23. The Night Is Darkest Just Before Dawn

**THE NIGHT IS DARKEST JUST BEFORE THE DAWN**

Hinata ran as fast as she could trying to reach the top of the Hokage mountain, she had passed many of their allies on the way up and the Kazekage of the Sand village was close behind her but she didn't turn to look. She was so scared, not for herself but for Naruto, he had been through so much and now having to face Orochimaru maybe just too much for him.

"Naruto!" She called to him when she reached the top, he was standing over a body and not that she'd ever admit it, but to her relief it was the body of the tormentor of the leaf village. It was true, the evil tyrant Orochimaru was dead.

The blond slowly turned to her and her heart almost broke when she saw the tears in his eyes. She quickly rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him. It was as if the barrier that he had held up for ten years suddenly shattered into a million pieces and the tear floodgates opened. He just broke down crying in her arms.

"Shh, it's okay, it's all over now Naruto. You won." She gasped through her own shuddering breaths, trying hard not to cry for his sake. He needed someone strong right now.

After a few minutes of whitnessing this surprising display of emotion from his adoptive brother, Gaara made his presence known by approaching. He knelt before the two and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder before holding something out with his other.

"Naruto... this is yours."

Said ninja wiped his eyes and glanced down at the thing in Gaara's hand just as all the other shinobi allies arrived at the top of the mountain. He stared at the object for a long time before glancing at the Kazekage.

"How... how did you... where... when?" Naruto was thoroughly confused, he finally reached out and took the object and held it up to look at it. It was his father's leaf ninja headband, there was no doubt about it that it was his for it had the familiar swirl symbol on the back of it that Naruto wore on his own orange jacket.

"The first night we brought you back to the sand village when we first found you, you were mumbling in your sleep about something you had lost." Temari explained and glanced at Kankurou.

"Yeah, we all thought you were just sleep talkin' for the sake of it yano? But Gaara... he went out that night. He never did tell us what he found but... well I guess we know now don' we." Kankurou said with a large grin.

"You... found my father's headband. So you knew... all along I was a leaf shinobi?" Naruto asked as he, with the help of Hinata, rose to his feet. Gaara only nodded his affirmation.

"Why... didn't you say anything?"

"Because you did not say anything. You wished it to remain a secret and I honored your wishes." He replied and Naruto couldn't help but smile lightly before looking down at the body of Orochimaru. He frowned.

"It's really over isn't it? I'll... I won't be able to return to the sand village." He said with a sigh but suddenly a fist came out of nowhere and socked his right between the eyes causing him to stumble back a few feet, He stared wide eyed at the one who had punched him.

"What was that for?"

"To knock some sense into you!"

"Dammit Temari!"

"You will always be welcome in the Sand village, Naruto. You're our brother after all, but your place is here among your own people."

Naruto stared at her and then to Kankurou and Gaara who were both nodding their agreement. He turned to face Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kakashi and Iruka who were all looking at him warm expressions. The ran had finally let up and was now a light drizzle.

"But after everything..." He started.

"It doesn't matter, it's in the past." Kakashi reminded him of the conversation they had had a few days prior and Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

He removed his Suna headband and handed it to Gaara, who took it without a word, then tied his father's Konoha headband around his head and walked to the edge of the Hokage mountain.

"... NARUTO UZUMAKI IS BACK!" He suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, roars and cheers erupted within the city upon hearing this. He had done it, faced his past, come back to the village he never truly stopped loving, took down Orochimaru and took his rightful place as Hokage of Konoha.

Naruto turned and walked back to his friends who were all giving him encouraging looks. He turned and looked to Hinata who was smiling shyly at him, it was the first time in years he had seen that beautiful smile on her face and for the first time ever he knew that if there was one thing he wanted to see for the rest of his life it was her smile.

He slowly reached out and took her delicate hands in his own, pulling her towards the balcony.

"N - Naruto?" She stuttered, a deep shade of pink tinted her cheeks causing the young hokage to let out a laugh before suddenly pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry... Hinata I'm so sorry." He mumbled into her blue hair, doing his best to hide his tears from her and the rest of his friends and comrades.

"What are you apologising for Naruto?" Her silky voice travelled through the wind and he pulled away, quickly wiping his tears.

"Marry me." He suddenly said.

It was as if then, everything went dead silent. Hinata didn't understand, one moment he was apologising for something and the next he was asking her to marry him.

"Hinata... marry me." The blond repeated, his crystal blue eyes sparkling with tears staring deep into her violet ones. She said nothing but wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, her own tears beginning to fall.

Cheers and screams could be heard once again from the villagers below and from the commrads at their sides. Naruto closed his eyes and hugged his wife - to - be close then looked to the sky where the storm clouds were clearing and a hint of blue could be seen among the grey. A gust of wind flew by and the blond smiled, knowing exactly where it came from.

_"Well done, my son."_

_END  
_

* * *

Alright guys I know this is short and I know you've all been waiting months for this and I KNOW I said I'd have it finished alot sooner than this but I have been so busy just dealing with stuff and as alot of you know I don't really like to ask for help because then it seems like the story isn't mine. This is the official end of this story but there WILL be a sequal so just don't fret and as I mentioned to alot of you during this story Sasuke and Sakura will be in the sequel.

Thanks for putting up with me and I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
